Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Upgraded by Zacks Research to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on BXMT. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.13.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

Shares of BXMT opened at $19.00 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.15. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a fifty-two week low of $16.51 and a fifty-two week high of $20.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 29.24 and a beta of 1.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 3,131 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.24, for a total value of $60,240.44. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 78,633 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,898.92. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in 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 valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 151.1% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 1,307 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone Mortgage Trust

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.