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

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $20.67.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded 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 report on Wednesday, December 11th.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

Shares of BXMT opened at $21.09 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $19.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.84. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a fifty-two week low of $16.53 and a fifty-two week high of $21.24. The company has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a PE ratio of -18.02 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share 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, equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.92%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -160.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,315 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total transaction of $47,920.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,095,760.40. This represents a 0.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 5,652 shares of company stock valued at $116,971 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 125.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,162 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,204 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1,672.9% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 3,014 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 2,844 shares during the period. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the third quarter valued at $63,000. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 814.9% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 5,471 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 4,873 shares in the last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

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.