Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) CEO Katharine A. Keenan Sells 2,315 Shares of Stock

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

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:BXMT opened at $20.94 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.89 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.53 and a 52-week high of $21.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $19.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.81.

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

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.98%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is presently -160.68%.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BXMT. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 3rd quarter worth $211,000. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $375,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1,700.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 18,907 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 17,857 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 167.8% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 173,034 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,289,000 after purchasing an additional 108,409 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $821,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.