Zacks Research Downgrades Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) to Strong Sell

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group started 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. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone Mortgage Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.20.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

Shares of BXMT opened at $14.29 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 158.78, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.91. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a one year low of $13.73 and a one year high of $20.67. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.30.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.10). Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a net margin of 1.57% and a return on equity of 7.72%. The business had revenue of $158.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.32 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,670 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.07, for a total value of $28,506.90. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 72,899 shares in the company, valued at $1,244,385.93. This trade represents a 2.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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. Also, Director Henry N. Nassau acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $14.34 per share, with a total value of $143,400.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 218,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,133,619.82. The trade was a 4.80% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,420 shares of company stock valued at $95,233. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. 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 grew 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 valued at $30,696,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494,830 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the second quarter valued at approximately $18,109,000. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 24.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 603,588 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 446,838 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

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.