Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $21.18 and last traded at $21.04, with a volume of 989821 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $20.91.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on BXMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.67.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Down 1.7 %

The firm has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.70 and a beta of 1.52. The company’s 50-day moving average is $19.36 and its 200-day moving average is $18.84.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.08%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -160.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,315 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total value 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 approximately $5,095,760.40. The trade was a 0.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 5,652 shares of company stock valued at $116,971 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the third quarter worth about $211,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1,700.7% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 18,907 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 17,857 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 167.8% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 173,034 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,289,000 after acquiring an additional 108,409 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the third quarter valued at about $821,000. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 23.0% in the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 56,422 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,072,000 after acquiring an additional 10,540 shares during the last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.