Katharine A. Keenan Sells 2,323 Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Stock

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,323 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total transaction of $48,086.10. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of BXMT traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $20.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,821,205 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,742,646. The company has a 50 day moving average of $18.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.63. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.20 and a beta of 1.50. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.53 and a 1-year high of $21.09.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.34%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is -160.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BXMT. True North Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 23,993 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 558 shares during the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,237 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $666,000 after acquiring an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 16,915 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $294,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 10,037 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 18,165 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BXMT. Wolfe Research raised Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone Mortgage Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.71.

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.