Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Given New $18.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) had its price objective dropped by stock analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $19.00 to $18.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 23.80% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. UBS Group started coverage on Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings cut Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $16.00 price target (down from $20.00) on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.50.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

BXMT stock traded down $0.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $14.54. The stock had a trading volume of 3,654,132 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,535,204. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a twelve month low of $14.11 and a twelve month high of $20.67. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $17.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.86 and a beta of 0.90.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $158.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.32 million. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a net margin of 8.75% and a return on equity of 6.11%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 2,398 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total value of $41,917.04. Following the transaction, the president owned 74,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,303,466.12. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 ninety days, insiders sold 5,420 shares of company stock worth $95,233. Corporate insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northside Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the second quarter worth $28,000. Kennicott Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 2nd quarter worth about $337,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 57,351 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $972,000 after acquiring an additional 4,100 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the first quarter worth about $286,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 21.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,297,062 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $24,839,000 after purchasing an additional 233,357 shares during the last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Blackstone Mortgage Trust News

Here are the key news stories impacting Blackstone Mortgage Trust this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management highlighted loan growth and generally solid portfolio performance. Blackstone Mortgage Trust also plans to cut office and pre-2023 loan exposure by more than 40% by year-end while expanding into the roughly $200 billion homebuilder-finance market, which could improve portfolio diversification. Blackstone Mortgage Trust targets office and pre-2023 exposure reduction
• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly revenue of $158.1 million was slightly above the $157.3 million consensus estimate. One earnings measure cited by Zacks was $0.48 per share, above its $0.38 estimate and up from $0.19 a year earlier. Blackstone Mortgage Trust surpasses Q2 estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed its “Market Perform” rating, indicating no expected near-term outperformance, while maintaining a $16 price target. The target was reduced from $20, reflecting a more cautious valuation outlook but still implying potential upside from recent levels. Keefe, Bruyette and Woods price target update
• Negative Sentiment: BXMT’s reported second-quarter EPS was $0.31, below the $0.38 analyst consensus. Realized gains and losses affected earnings, and the miss prompted at least one analyst downgrade despite the company’s loan growth and portfolio performance. Blackstone Mortgage Trust downgrade after second-quarter miss

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.