Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.10 EPS

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.10), FiscalAI reports. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a return on equity of 6.11% and a net margin of 8.75%.The firm had revenue of $158.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.32 million.

Here are the key takeaways from Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s conference call:

• Distributable earnings before realized gains and losses were $0.48 per share, covering the $0.47 dividend, although GAAP results showed a $0.48-per-share loss and distributable earnings including realized losses were $0.31 per share.
• BXMT received $1.2 billion of repayments and deployed $1.4 billion into newer investments focused on residential, industrial, and net lease assets. Management expects office and pre-2023 loan exposure to decline by at least 40% by year-end.
• Portfolio performance weakened modestly, with 97% of loans performing versus 98% last quarter and three new impairments, including a $345 million Chicago office loan. Higher interest rates are increasing pressure on roughly $1 billion of watchlist loans, primarily lower-cash-flow office assets.
• The company entered homebuilder finance, citing a roughly $200 billion addressable market, reduced bank lending, granular collateral, and expected mid-to-high-teens levered yields. Its net lease portfolio also expanded to $661 million, with more than $150 million of acquisitions closed or pending in July.
• Book value fell 4% to $19.31 per share, largely because of higher CECL reserves and real estate depreciation, while management warned that impairments, repayments, and portfolio-rotation efforts could weigh on third-quarter earnings and may factor into the board’s dividend review.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Down 9.0%

BXMT stock traded down $1.47 on Thursday, hitting $14.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,288,251 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,521,850. The stock has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.48 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $17.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.65. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 1 year low of $14.90 and a 1 year high of $20.67.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is presently 308.20%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 2,398 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total value of $41,917.04. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 74,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,303,466.12. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,420 shares of company stock worth $95,233. Company insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 45.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 151.1% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 1,307 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 74.6% in the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,645 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 1,985 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the third quarter worth approximately $173,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BXMT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 26th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 17th. 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. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone Mortgage Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.75.

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.