Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $19.20.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on BXMT shares. UBS Group started coverage on Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $22.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Zacks Research downgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $16.00 price target (down from $20.00) on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Friday.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In related news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 2,398 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total transaction of $41,917.04. Following the transaction, the president directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 have sold 5,420 shares of company stock worth $95,233 over the last 90 days. 1.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 536 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 570,233 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,405,000 after buying an additional 37,838 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 73,679 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,474,000 after buying an additional 3,478 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 28.1% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 630,752 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,142,000 after acquiring an additional 138,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the second quarter worth approximately $226,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE BXMT opened at $14.57 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a PE ratio of 161.94 and a beta of 0.90. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a twelve month low of $14.11 and a twelve month high of $20.67. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.56.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.10). Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a net margin of 1.57% and a return on equity of 7.72%. The firm had revenue of $158.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.32 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is presently 2,088.89%.

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.