Fernando Austin Pena Sells 1,666 Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Stock

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,666 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total value of $31,454.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 76,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,453,136.96. The trade was a 2.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

BXMT stock traded down $0.41 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $18.36. 904,839 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,464,720. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.51 and a 52 week high of $20.67. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $19.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a PE ratio of 28.27 and a beta of 1.00.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.2%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 289.23%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BXMT. UBS Group AG increased its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,082,005 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $56,740,000 after purchasing an additional 603,588 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,000,621 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,272,000 after purchasing an additional 304,307 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the fourth quarter worth $38,239,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,607,185 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,745,000 after buying an additional 264,256 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,354,870 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,919,000 after buying an additional 277,280 shares during the last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BXMT has been the topic of several recent research reports. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.13.

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.