Marcin Urbaszek Sells 864 Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Stock

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) CFO Marcin Urbaszek sold 864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.42, for a total transaction of $11,594.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 23,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $321,543.20. This represents a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

Shares of BXMT stock traded down $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $13.30. 7,971,792 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,719,580. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $13.10 and a 52-week high of $20.67. The stock has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 147.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $14.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.29.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $158.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.32 million. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a return on equity of 7.72% and a net margin of 1.57%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.1%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2,088.89%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 4th quarter valued at $38,239,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 21.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,297,062 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $24,839,000 after acquiring an additional 233,357 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 2nd quarter worth about $18,109,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 770,901 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,763,000 after purchasing an additional 19,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 0.6% in the first quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 483,624 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,261,000 after purchasing an additional 2,971 shares during the period. 64.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BXMT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Zacks Research lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $16.00 price objective (down from $20.00) on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone Mortgage Trust presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.20.

About Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that originates and holds senior mortgage loans secured by commercial real estate. Its lending activities primarily focus on transitional and institutional-quality properties, including office, multifamily, hotel, industrial, retail and other commercial assets.

The company’s portfolio is concentrated in major real estate markets in the United States, Europe and Australia. Its loans are generally floating-rate and are designed to provide financing for acquisitions, refinancings, renovations, development and other commercial real estate activities.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust is externally managed by BXMT Advisors LLC, an affiliate of Blackstone.