Marcin Urbaszek Sells 1,352 Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Stock

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) CFO Marcin Urbaszek sold 1,352 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.35, for a total transaction of $24,809.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 24,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $455,520.40. The trade was a 5.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

NYSE BXMT opened at $18.07 on Friday. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $17.67 and a one year high of $20.67. The company has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.63 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.19.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 308.20%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,082,005 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $56,740,000 after acquiring an additional 603,588 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,000,621 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,272,000 after acquiring an additional 304,307 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter worth about $38,239,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,607,185 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,745,000 after acquiring an additional 264,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,354,870 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,919,000 after acquiring an additional 277,280 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on BXMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research downgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group initiated coverage on Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone Mortgage Trust has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.38.

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.