Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at UBS Group

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) was upgraded by research analysts at UBS Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

BXMT has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.38.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE BXMT opened at $18.04 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.25. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 1-year low of $17.67 and a 1-year high of $20.67. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.58 and a beta of 0.89.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,666 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total transaction of $31,454.08. Following the sale, the president owned 76,967 shares in the company, valued at $1,453,136.96. This represents a 2.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position 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 buying an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Ascentis Independent Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the first quarter worth $41,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 151.1% in the fourth 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the third quarter worth $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.