Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Director Acquires $143,400.00 in Stock

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Director Henry Nassau purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $14.34 per share, for a total transaction of $143,400.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 218,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,133,619.82. This trade represents a 4.80% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

BXMT opened at $14.16 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a PE ratio of 157.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50-day moving average is $17.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.42. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $13.73 and a 1 year high of $20.67.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.10). Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a net margin of 1.57% and a return on equity of 7.72%. The firm had revenue of $158.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.32 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.21 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is 2,088.89%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BXMT. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,239,000. Bamco Inc. NY grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1,498.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,594,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,696,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494,830 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $18,109,000. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $19,838,000 after purchasing an additional 446,838 shares during the period. 64.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on BXMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $16.00 price target (down from $20.00) on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.20.

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.