Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.00.

BXMT has been the subject of several research reports. Zacks Research cut shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target on the stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock opened at $16.87 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.92. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 52-week low of $16.84 and a 52-week high of $20.67. The firm has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 27.66 and a beta of 0.90.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.1%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is currently 308.20%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In related news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,670 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.07, for a total transaction of $28,506.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 72,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,244,385.93. This represents a 2.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 worth $95,233 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,239,000. Bamco Inc. NY increased its holdings in 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 worth $30,696,000 after buying an additional 1,494,830 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 24.4% during 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 last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 70.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,077,590 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $19,838,000 after acquiring an additional 446,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the fourth quarter worth $7,733,000. Institutional investors 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.