Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) CEO Katharine A. Keenan Sells 2,323 Shares

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,323 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total value of $48,086.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 248,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,143,680.90. The trade was a 0.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BXMT opened at $20.13 on Wednesday. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.53 and a 1-year high of $21.09. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a PE ratio of -17.20 and a beta of 1.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.65.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.87) by $1.26. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a negative net margin of 11.54% and a positive return on equity of 8.62%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.34%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -160.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,662,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 39.4% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,832,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,315,000 after acquiring an additional 801,083 shares during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 8,601,492 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $149,752,000 after buying an additional 652,537 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 473.3% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 625,060 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,882,000 after purchasing an additional 516,023 shares during the period. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 4th quarter valued at $8,118,000. 64.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on BXMT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.67.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc, a real estate finance company, originates senior loans collateralized by commercial properties in North America, Europe, and Australia. The company originates and acquires senior floating rate mortgage loans that are secured by a first-priority mortgage on commercial real estate assets.