Fernando Austin Pena Sells 1,666 Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Stock

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total value of $31,454.08. Following the transaction, the president owned 76,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,453,136.96. This trade represents a 2.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

Shares of BXMT stock opened at $18.67 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of 28.73 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.11. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $16.51 and a one year high of $20.67.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.1%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 289.23%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BXMT. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $82,000. Sankala Group LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $562,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $293,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 25.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,354,870 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,919,000 after acquiring an additional 277,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 44,904 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $886,000 after acquiring an additional 2,462 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.