Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.00.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Tuesday.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE BXMT opened at $19.53 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.50 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $19.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.13. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a twelve month low of $16.51 and a twelve month high of $21.24.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is 303.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 3,131 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the president owned 78,633 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,898.92. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 5,049 shares of company stock worth $98,716 over the last three months. 1.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BXMT. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at $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 purchasing an additional 536 shares during the period. North Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the third quarter valued at $37,000. ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. 64.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.