Wells Fargo & Company Trims Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Target Price to $20.00

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) had its price objective lowered by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $22.00 to $20.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 10.68% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. BTIG Research cut their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.50 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Bank of America cut shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $22.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $18.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone Mortgage Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.71.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BXMT traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $18.07. The company had a trading volume of 472,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,127,472. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a PE ratio of 12.82 and a beta of 1.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $19.56 and its 200-day moving average is $20.62. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a twelve month low of $16.83 and a twelve month high of $23.82.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,274 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.42, for a total value of $46,435.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 194,298 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,967,565.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,275 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.25, for a total transaction of $46,068.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 192,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,888,465.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,274 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.42, for a total value of $46,435.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 194,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,967,565.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,540 shares of company stock valued at $112,642. 1.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 15.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,643,329 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $405,492,000 after acquiring an additional 2,470,412 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,747,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 4,968.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 928,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $20,187,000 after buying an additional 909,838 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 7,948,955 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $169,074,000 after acquiring an additional 686,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 45.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,141,173 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $46,578,000 after acquiring an additional 669,172 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc, a real estate finance company, originates senior loans collateralized by commercial properties in North America, Europe, and Australia. The company originates and acquires senior floating rate mortgage loans that are secured by a first-priority mortgage on commercial real estate assets.