JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. $BXMT

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) by 36.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 578,444 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 155,421 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust were worth $10,649,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the third quarter worth $25,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 45.5% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. North Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,926 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Down 1.7%

Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock opened at $18.87 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $19.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.13. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.51 and a 52 week high of $20.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.03 and a beta of 1.06.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.0%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 289.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BXMT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Monday, December 29th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Zacks Research raised shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone Mortgage Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.13.

Insider Activity at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 3,131 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.24, for a total transaction of $60,240.44. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 78,633 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,898.92. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.