Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) shares reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $17.67 and last traded at $17.8280, with a volume of 143286 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.96.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BXMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Monday, May 11th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Zacks Research cut Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.13.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.27. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.63 and a beta of 0.92.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.4%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 308.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total transaction of $31,454.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 76,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,453,136.96. This represents a 2.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. UBS Group AG raised its position 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. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,000,621 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,272,000 after purchasing an additional 304,307 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,239,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 19.7% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,354,870 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,919,000 after purchasing an additional 277,280 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

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.