Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.10 EPS

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.10), FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $158.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.32 million. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a net margin of 8.75% and a return on equity of 6.11%.

Here are the key takeaways from Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s conference call:

• Distributable earnings before realized gains and losses were $0.48 per share, covering the $0.47 dividend, although GAAP results showed a $0.48-per-share loss and distributable earnings including realized losses were $0.31 per share.
• BXMT received $1.2 billion of repayments and deployed $1.4 billion into newer investments focused on residential, industrial, and net lease assets. Management expects office and pre-2023 loan exposure to decline by at least 40% by year-end.
• Portfolio performance weakened modestly, with 97% of loans performing versus 98% last quarter and three new impairments, including a $345 million Chicago office loan. Higher interest rates are increasing pressure on roughly $1 billion of watchlist loans, primarily lower-cash-flow office assets.
• The company entered homebuilder finance, citing a roughly $200 billion addressable market, reduced bank lending, granular collateral, and expected mid-to-high-teens levered yields. Its net lease portfolio also expanded to $661 million, with more than $150 million of acquisitions closed or pending in July.
• Book value fell 4% to $19.31 per share, largely because of higher CECL reserves and real estate depreciation, while management warned that impairments, repayments, and portfolio-rotation efforts could weigh on third-quarter earnings and may factor into the board’s dividend review.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BXMT traded down $1.39 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $15.02. 3,324,480 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,507,436. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 1 year low of $14.91 and a 1 year high of $20.67. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $17.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.63 and a beta of 0.90.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.5%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 308.20%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 2,398 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total value of $41,917.04. Following the sale, the president directly owned 74,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,303,466.12. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 5,420 shares of company stock worth $95,233 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 45.5% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 570,233 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,405,000 after buying an additional 37,838 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 73,679 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,474,000 after buying an additional 3,478 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 28.1% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 630,752 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,142,000 after buying an additional 138,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at about $226,000. Institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BXMT. Weiss Ratings cut Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group started coverage on Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.75.

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.