Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.14, FiscalAI reports. The firm had revenue of $141.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.60 million. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a positive return on equity of 9.17% and a negative net margin of 48.18%.

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

• Book value fell 12% to $17.06 per share, driven primarily by $1.59 per share of higher CECL reserves, impairments to owned real estate, and valuation adjustments on loans held for sale. The company reported a GAAP loss of $1.95 per share.
• Management reduced the quarterly dividend from $0.47 to $0.30 per share, citing expected earnings pressure from portfolio runoff, impaired loans, and lower-yielding owned real estate, although it expects to cover the new dividend through 2027.
• BXMT sold nearly $1 billion of loans at an average price of approximately $0.93 on the dollar and collected $2.3 billion of repayments, reducing its watchlist by nearly 60% to the lowest level since 2019. Management believes most legacy office-related credit deterioration is now reflected in book value.
• The company reported $1.3 billion of liquidity, with 89% of debt represented by non-mark-to-market borrowings and no corporate debt maturities after largely pre-funding its 2027 obligations until 2029. It also has $110 million of remaining share-repurchase authorization and bought back $36 million of stock during the quarter.
• BXMT is increasing portfolio diversification, with post-2023 loans and newer net lease, bank loan, and homebuilder finance strategies representing a larger share of investments. These newer strategies now comprise nearly 10% of the portfolio, while average investment size has declined to $18 million from more than $130 million several years ago.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $11.01. 7,783,936 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,401,656. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a fifty-two week low of $10.11 and a fifty-two week high of $20.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.94, a PEG ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $12.24 and its 200-day moving average is $16.71.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 31st. This is a drop from Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently -53.81%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, Director Henry Nassau purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $14.34 per share, for a total transaction of $143,400.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 218,523 shares in the company, valued at $3,133,619.82. This represents a 4.80% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,716 shares of company stock valued at $46,815. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BXMT shares. Citigroup restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone Mortgage Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.40.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone Mortgage Trust this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BXMT reported quarterly earnings of $0.38 per share, above the $0.24 analyst consensus. Another estimate cited adjusted earnings of $0.42 per share versus $0.26 expected, and earnings increased from $0.24 a year earlier. Blackstone Mortgage Trust Beats Q3 Earnings Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management’s efforts to reduce exposure to older office loans could lower future credit risk and improve portfolio quality, although the process is weighing on current results. Blackstone Mortgage Trust Reports Loss as It Cuts Older Office Loans
• Neutral Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods maintained a “market perform” rating but lowered its price target from $13 to $12, implying approximately 9% potential upside from the referenced price. The revision signals limited near-term conviction. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods BXMT Rating
• Negative Sentiment: The REIT posted an unexpected $327.6 million third-quarter net loss, reflecting credit provisions and markdowns associated with its loan portfolio. Revenue of $141.9 million also came in below the $148.6 million consensus estimate. Blackstone Mortgage Trust Reports Unexpected Q3 Net Loss
• Negative Sentiment: BXMT cut its quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share from $0.47, a 36.2% reduction. Although the annualized yield remains about 11%, the cut may pressure income-focused investors and raises questions about cash-flow durability.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust that originates and manages senior loans secured by commercial properties. The company primarily provides floating-rate mortgage financing to owners and sponsors of institutional-quality real estate, earning income from interest and other fees associated with its lending activities.

Its loan portfolio has historically included properties across sectors such as office, multifamily, hotel, industrial, retail and life sciences.