Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) President Fernando Austin Pena Sells 2,398 Shares of Stock

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) President Fernando Austin Pena sold 2,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total value of $41,917.04. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 74,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,303,466.12. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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.

Fernando Austin Pena also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, March 31st, Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,666 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total transaction of $31,454.08.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE BXMT traded up $0.03 on Monday, hitting $17.45. 2,444,882 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,501,122. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.09 and a fifty-two week high of $20.67. The company has a market cap of $2.94 billion, a PE ratio of 28.61 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $18.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.12.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.8%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 308.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. UBS Group began coverage on Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research lowered shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.00.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 36.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 578,444 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,649,000 after buying an additional 155,421 shares during the period. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,991,000. Bamco Inc. NY grew its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 6.4% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,696,314 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,229,000 after acquiring an additional 101,701 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2,836.1% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 214,626 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,106,000 after acquiring an additional 207,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 865,464 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,933,000 after acquiring an additional 71,584 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.