Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.25.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BXMT shares. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.50 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,323 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total transaction of $48,086.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 248,487 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,143,680.90. This trade represents a 0.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,652 shares of company stock worth $116,971. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $35,662,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 39.4% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,832,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,315,000 after acquiring an additional 801,083 shares during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 8,601,492 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $149,752,000 after acquiring an additional 652,537 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 473.3% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 625,060 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,882,000 after acquiring an additional 516,023 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,118,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:BXMT opened at $19.14 on Friday. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 1 year low of $16.51 and a 1 year high of $21.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $19.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.36 and a beta of 1.22.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.87) by $1.26. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a negative net margin of 11.54% and a positive return on equity of 8.62%. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.82%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is currently -408.70%.

About Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc, a real estate finance company, originates senior loans collateralized by commercial properties in North America, Europe, and Australia. The company originates and acquires senior floating rate mortgage loans that are secured by a first-priority mortgage on commercial real estate assets.