Fernando Austin Pena Sells 1,670 Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Stock

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,670 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.07, for a total value of $28,506.90. Following the sale, the president owned 72,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,244,385.93. This trade represents a 2.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Fernando Austin Pena also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, June 25th, Fernando Austin Pena sold 2,398 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total transaction of $41,917.04.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock opened at $17.23 on Friday. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.88 and a 1 year high of $20.67. The firm has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a PE ratio of 28.25 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.03.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 308.20%.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 45.5% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Ascentis Independent Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the first quarter worth $41,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 151.1% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 1,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the third quarter valued at $46,000. 64.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings cut Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.00.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

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.