Bridgefront Capital LLC Purchases New Stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT)

Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 15,295 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $266,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 4th quarter worth $4,952,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 57,051 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $993,000 after buying an additional 8,500 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,662,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,326,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 838,973 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,607,000 after acquiring an additional 20,487 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BXMT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.50 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.25.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Up 0.4 %

BXMT opened at $18.77 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a PE ratio of -16.04 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.88. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.51 and a fifty-two week high of $21.24.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.87) by $1.26. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a negative net margin of 11.54% and a positive return on equity of 8.62%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.02%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is -408.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,315 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total value of $47,920.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 246,172 shares in the company, valued at $5,095,760.40. The trade was a 0.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Henry N. Nassau purchased 10,000 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $18.90 per share, with a total value of $189,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 182,946 shares in the company, valued at $3,457,679.40. The trade was a 5.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,652 shares of company stock worth $116,971. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc, a real estate finance company, originates senior loans collateralized by commercial properties in North America, Europe, and Australia. The company originates and acquires senior floating rate mortgage loans that are secured by a first-priority mortgage on commercial real estate assets.