Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) President Sells $28,506.90 in Stock

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.07, for a total transaction of $28,506.90. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 72,899 shares in the company, valued at $1,244,385.93. The trade was a 2.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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.

Fernando Austin Pena also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, June 25th, Fernando Austin Pena sold 2,398 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total value of $41,917.04.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE BXMT opened at $17.23 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.25 and a beta of 0.90. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.88 and a 52-week high of $20.67.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.9%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 308.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on BXMT. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Four 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BXMT. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the first quarter valued at about $286,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 21.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,297,062 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $24,839,000 after purchasing an additional 233,357 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 75.7% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 238,916 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,575,000 after buying an additional 102,904 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 14,874 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 1,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 30.1% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 33,705 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $645,000 after buying an additional 7,804 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

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.