Advisors Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. $BXMT

Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,127,653 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,767 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust were worth $20,760,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 2nd quarter worth $34,608,000. Bamco Inc. NY grew its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1,498.1% in the second quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,594,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,696,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494,830 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.4% during the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 691,251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,307,000 after purchasing an additional 35,343 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 645,225 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,421,000 after purchasing an additional 18,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 28.1% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 630,752 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,142,000 after buying an additional 138,469 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BXMT. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold 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 $21.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 3,131 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.24, for a total value of $60,240.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 78,633 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,898.92. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 5,049 shares of company stock valued at $98,716 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of BXMT opened at $19.66 on Wednesday. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.51 and a 12-month high of $21.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $19.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.25 and a beta of 1.07.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is presently 289.23%.

About Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc (NYSE: BXMT) is a publicly traded real estate finance company that originates, acquires and manages commercial mortgage loans and other CRE debt investments. As an externally managed real estate investment trust (REIT), it seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns through the deployment of senior floating-rate and fixed-rate loans backed by income-producing properties.

The firm’s core business activities span the origination of senior mortgage loans, the acquisition of loan portfolios and other real estate debt instruments, and the active management of those investments.