Blackstone Mortgage Trust Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BXMT)

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 67,797 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 8,809% compared to the average volume of 761 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BXMT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.33.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of BXMT stock traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $19.76. 1,020,807 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,423,210. The company has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a PE ratio of 31.86 and a beta of 1.08. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 12-month low of $16.51 and a 12-month high of $21.24. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.16.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $132.71 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $103.56 million. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 4.06%. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.5%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 303.23%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BXMT. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 45.5% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 420.0% during the 2nd quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 2,600 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc (NYSE: BXMT) is a publicly traded real estate finance company that originates, acquires and manages commercial mortgage loans and other CRE debt investments. As an externally managed real estate investment trust (REIT), it seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns through the deployment of senior floating-rate and fixed-rate loans backed by income-producing properties.

The firm’s core business activities span the origination of senior mortgage loans, the acquisition of loan portfolios and other real estate debt instruments, and the active management of those investments.