Fernando Austin Pena Sells 1,670 Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Stock

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.07, for a total value of $28,506.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 72,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,244,385.93. This trade represents a 2.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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.

Fernando Austin Pena also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, June 25th, Fernando Austin Pena sold 2,398 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total transaction of $41,917.04.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BXMT traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $16.98. The company had a trading volume of 1,220,741 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,499,844. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $16.88 and a one year high of $20.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $18.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.08. The company has a market capitalization of $2.86 billion, a PE ratio of 27.83 and a beta of 0.89.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is 308.20%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BXMT. UBS Group AG lifted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 24.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,082,005 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $56,740,000 after acquiring an additional 603,588 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 17.9% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,239,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 19.7% in the fourth 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 position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 25.7% during the fourth 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 last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BXMT. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research downgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group initiated coverage on Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.00.

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.