Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The real estate investment trust reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.04, Zacks reports. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a net margin of 0.24% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The firm had revenue of $466.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.87 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Up 0.5 %

BXMT stock traded up $0.08 during trading on Thursday, hitting $17.43. 2,366,103 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,136,226. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 582.67 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 52-week low of $16.70 and a 52-week high of $23.82. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $17.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.94.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8,266.67%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 4,508 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $79,025.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 182,960 shares in the company, valued at $3,207,288.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,296 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.04, for a total value of $39,123.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 187,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,194,454.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 4,508 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $79,025.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 182,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,207,288.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,057 shares of company stock valued at $191,141. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BXMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $17.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.93.

About Blackstone Mortgage Trust

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.