Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on BXMT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Monday, December 29th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $21.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.38.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

BXMT stock opened at $19.95 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.18. The company has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.68 and a beta of 1.00. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a fifty-two week low of $17.67 and a fifty-two week high of $20.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,666 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total transaction of $31,454.08. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 76,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,453,136.96. The trade was a 2.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 45.5% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 151.1% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 1,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

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.