Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Short Interest Up 60.8% in March

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 12,576,160 shares, a growth of 60.8% from the March 15th total of 7,821,043 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,861,939 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.8 days. Currently, 7.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total value of $31,454.08. Following the sale, the president directly owned 76,967 shares in the company, valued at $1,453,136.96. The trade was a 2.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter worth about $38,239,000. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1,498.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,594,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,696,000 after buying an additional 1,494,830 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted 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 buying an additional 603,588 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 70.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,077,590 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $19,838,000 after acquiring an additional 446,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 4th quarter worth about $7,733,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on BXMT. Zacks Research raised Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.13.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Up 0.1%

Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $19.99. The stock had a trading volume of 491,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,462,895. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.76 and a beta of 1.00. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 52-week low of $17.67 and a 52-week high of $20.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $19.23 and a 200 day moving average of $19.12.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.4%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is presently 289.23%.

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.