Pacific Capital Partners Ltd Lowers Stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. $BXMT

Pacific Capital Partners Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) by 68.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 27,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 60,000 shares during the period. Pacific Capital Partners Ltd’s holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust were worth $526,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BXMT. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 45.5% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1.4% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 48,234 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $888,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,926 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares in the last quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 19,475 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 249,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,592,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares during the last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BXMT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 3,131 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.24, for a total value of $60,240.44. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 78,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,512,898.92. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

Shares of BXMT stock opened at $19.28 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $19.28 and a 200 day moving average of $19.13. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.51 and a 1-year high of $20.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.25 billion, a PE ratio of 29.66 and a beta of 1.06.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 289.23%.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Profile

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.