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

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $21.00.

BXMT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 26th. 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 price objective for the company. Zacks Research lowered shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,670 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.07, for a total transaction of $28,506.90. Following the sale, the president directly owned 72,899 shares in the company, valued at $1,244,385.93. This represents a 2.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,420 shares of company stock worth $95,233. 1.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BXMT. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 24.4% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,082,005 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $56,740,000 after purchasing an additional 603,588 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY increased its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,000,621 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,272,000 after purchasing an additional 304,307 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,239,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,607,185 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,745,000 after purchasing an additional 264,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,354,870 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,919,000 after buying an additional 277,280 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

BXMT opened at $17.12 on Friday. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a one year low of $16.72 and a one year high of $20.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a PE ratio of 28.07 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $17.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.86.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.0%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is 308.20%.

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.