Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Sets New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as low as $10.29 and last traded at $10.2330, with a volume of 212,793 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.53.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on BXMT. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $22.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Citigroup reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone Mortgage Trust presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.60.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Up 0.2%

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $12.84 and its 200 day moving average is $16.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.92.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last announced its 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 return on equity of 7.72% and a net margin of 1.57%. The company had revenue of $158.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.32 million. Analysts predict that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 0.90 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were paid a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 18.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 30th. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is 2,088.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Henry Nassau acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was purchased 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 $3,133,619.82. The trade was a 4.80% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,716 shares of company stock valued at $46,815. Insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 21.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,297,062 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $24,839,000 after purchasing an additional 233,357 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 2nd quarter worth about $18,109,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 770,901 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,763,000 after buying an additional 19,423 shares during the last quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 483,624 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,261,000 after buying an additional 2,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dupree Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 85.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dupree Financial Group LLC now owns 596,835 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,834,000 after buying an additional 274,361 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust that originates and manages senior loans secured by commercial properties. The company primarily provides floating-rate mortgage financing to owners and sponsors of institutional-quality real estate, earning income from interest and other fees associated with its lending activities.

Its loan portfolio has historically included properties across sectors such as office, multifamily, hotel, industrial, retail and life sciences.