Insider Selling: Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) CFO Sells 1,352 Shares

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) CFO Marcin Urbaszek sold 1,352 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.35, for a total value of $24,809.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 24,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $455,520.40. The trade was a 5.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BXMT traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $18.07. 3,349,110 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,459,564. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $18.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.21. The firm has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 29.63 and a beta of 0.89. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.67 and a 52 week high of $20.67.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 308.20%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BXMT. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $286,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $24,839,000 after buying an additional 233,357 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 75.7% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 238,916 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,575,000 after buying an additional 102,904 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 14.1% in the first quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 14,874 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 1,833 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 30.1% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 33,705 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $645,000 after acquiring an additional 7,804 shares during the last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BXMT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, 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 target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.38.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company 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.