Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $21.1250.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BXMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BXMT opened at $18.93 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.12 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.20. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 1 year low of $16.51 and a 1 year high of $21.24.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 289.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 3,131 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.24, for a total value of $60,240.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 78,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,512,898.92. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 4,543 shares of company stock valued at $88,910. Insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the fourth quarter worth $38,239,000. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1,498.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,594,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,696,000 after buying an additional 1,494,830 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 24.4% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,082,005 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $56,740,000 after buying an additional 603,588 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 70.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,077,590 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $19,838,000 after buying an additional 446,838 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,733,000. 64.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Blackstone Mortgage Trust

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.