Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) CEO Sells $47,920.50 in Stock

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,315 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total transaction of $47,920.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,172 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,095,760.40. This represents a 0.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock opened at $21.08 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.83. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.53 and a 12-month high of $21.18. The stock has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.01 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently -160.68%.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 125.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,162 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,204 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1,672.9% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 3,014 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 2,844 shares during the period. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 4th quarter worth $56,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 3rd quarter worth $63,000. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 814.9% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 5,471 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 4,873 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on BXMT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective 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 increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.