Anthony Marone, Jr. Sells 1,012 Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Stock

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) CFO Anthony Marone, Jr. sold 1,012 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.31, for a total transaction of $20,553.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 75,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,533,405. This trade represents a 1.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

BXMT traded up $0.15 on Wednesday, hitting $20.32. 1,991,400 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,214,420. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.51 and a fifty-two week high of $21.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.45 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s fifty day moving average is $18.87 and its 200 day moving average is $19.12.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $132.71 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $103.56 million. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a return on equity of 4.06% and a net margin of 7.53%. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is presently 303.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on BXMT shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone Mortgage Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.33.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 45.5% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. North Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

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.