Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.3750.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group assumed coverage on Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th.

Insider Activity at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In related news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total transaction of $31,454.08. Following the sale, the president owned 76,967 shares in the company, valued at $1,453,136.96. This represents a 2.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 36.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 578,444 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,649,000 after purchasing an additional 155,421 shares during the last quarter. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the third quarter worth approximately $2,991,000. Bamco Inc. NY raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 6.4% in the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,696,314 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,229,000 after purchasing an additional 101,701 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2,836.1% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 214,626 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,106,000 after acquiring an additional 207,316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 9.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 865,464 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,933,000 after purchasing an additional 71,584 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock opened at $18.35 on Monday. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a one year low of $17.67 and a one year high of $20.67. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $18.85 and its 200 day moving average is $19.24. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.08 and a beta of 0.89.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

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.