Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. $BXMT Shares Acquired by Sei Investments Co.

Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) by 86.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 124,840 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,914 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned 0.07% of Blackstone Mortgage Trust worth $2,391,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 45.5% in 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 buying an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Ascentis Independent Advisors acquired a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 151.1% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 1,307 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 259.8% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,634 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 1,902 shares in the last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on BXMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $22.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $16.00 target price (down from $20.00) on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.20.

Insider Activity at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.07, for a total value of $28,506.90. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 72,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,244,385.93. The trade was a 2.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Henry N. Nassau purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $14.34 per share, for a total transaction of $143,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 218,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,133,619.82. This represents a 4.80% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 5,420 shares of company stock worth $95,233 in the last 90 days. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

NYSE BXMT opened at $14.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 157.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 0.91. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.73 and a 12 month high of $20.67. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $17.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.42.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.10). Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a net margin of 1.57% and a return on equity of 7.72%. The company had revenue of $158.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.32 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.21 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.3%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2,088.89%.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust 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.