Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Stock Rated “Hold” by Sell-Side Brokerages

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $19.20.

BXMT has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group assumed coverage on Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. Zacks Research lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Citigroup restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, Director Henry Nassau acquired 10,000 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $14.34 per share, with a total value of $143,400.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 218,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,133,619.82. The trade was a 4.80% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Fernando Pena sold 1,670 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.07, for a total transaction of $28,506.90. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 72,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,244,385.93. The trade was a 2.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,661 shares of company stock valued at $55,226. Corporate insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BXMT. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $18,109,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 758.3% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 185,148 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,546,000 after acquiring an additional 163,577 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in 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 worth $24,839,000 after acquiring an additional 233,357 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 75.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 102,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shikiar Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 96.4% during the first quarter. Shikiar Asset Management Inc. now owns 174,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,346,000 after acquiring an additional 85,750 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:BXMT opened at $12.53 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $14.32 and its 200-day moving average is $17.01. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 52-week low of $12.31 and a 52-week high of $20.67. The company has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.17, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.90.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.10). Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a net margin of 1.57% and a return on equity of 7.72%. The company had revenue of $158.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.32 million. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 0.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 15.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is 2,088.89%.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that originates and holds senior mortgage loans secured by commercial real estate. Its lending activities primarily focus on transitional and institutional-quality properties, including office, multifamily, hotel, industrial, retail and other commercial assets.

The company’s portfolio is concentrated in major real estate markets in the United States, Europe and Australia. Its loans are generally floating-rate and are designed to provide financing for acquisitions, refinancings, renovations, development and other commercial real estate activities.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust is externally managed by BXMT Advisors LLC, an affiliate of Blackstone.