Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Downgraded by Zacks Research to Hold

Zacks Research cut shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $21.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.38.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BXMT opened at $19.95 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $19.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.18. The stock has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.68 and a beta of 1.00. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a one year low of $17.67 and a one year high of $20.67.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is currently 289.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total transaction of $31,454.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 76,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,453,136.96. This represents a 2.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. acquired a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the third quarter worth approximately $2,991,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 36.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 578,444 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,649,000 after purchasing an additional 155,421 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY increased its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 6.4% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,696,314 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,229,000 after purchasing an additional 101,701 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 9.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 865,464 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,933,000 after purchasing an additional 71,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2,836.1% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 214,626 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,106,000 after purchasing an additional 207,316 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.