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

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the six brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.00.

BXMT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 4,593 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.49, for a total value of $89,517.57. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,482,816.94. This trade represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 8,818 shares of company stock worth $171,190 in the last three months. 1.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BXMT. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 24.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 603,588 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,598,933 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $51,979,000 after buying an additional 63,953 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the second quarter worth $35,101,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the second quarter valued at $34,608,000. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 6.4% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,696,314 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,229,000 after acquiring an additional 101,701 shares during the period. 64.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Up 2.7%

NYSE:BXMT traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $18.82. 1,344,456 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,432,431. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $18.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a PE ratio of 30.35 and a beta of 1.16. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 1-year low of $16.51 and a 1-year high of $21.24.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.05. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 4.06%. The company had revenue of $132.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $103.56 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 303.23%.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc, a real estate finance company, originates senior loans collateralized by commercial properties in North America, Europe, and Australia. The company originates and acquires senior floating rate mortgage loans that are secured by a first-priority mortgage on commercial real estate assets.