252,987 Shares in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. $BXMT Purchased by Independent Financial Group LLC

Independent Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 252,987 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $4,845,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter worth about $38,239,000. Bamco Inc. NY grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1,498.1% during the second 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 last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 24.4% in 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 70.8% in 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 in the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,733,000. 64.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In related news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 2,398 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total value of $41,917.04. Following the transaction, the president owned 74,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,303,466.12. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 5,420 shares of company stock valued at $95,233 over the last quarter. 1.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BXMT. Weiss Ratings cut Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Zacks Research lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group started coverage on Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone Mortgage Trust has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.75.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

Shares of BXMT stock opened at $17.07 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.99 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.81. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $16.72 and a one year high of $20.67.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.0%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is presently 308.20%.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust 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.