Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Upgraded at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note released on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has $21.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous price target of $20.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Thursday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.00.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

Shares of BXMT opened at $18.38 on Monday. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a twelve month low of $16.51 and a twelve month high of $21.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $18.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.03. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.64 and a beta of 1.16.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $132.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $103.56 million. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 4.06%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.2%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 303.23%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 4,593 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.49, for a total value of $89,517.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,482,816.94. The trade was a 1.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,818 shares of company stock valued at $171,190. 1.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BXMT. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. 64.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.