Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

BXMT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Zacks Research upgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $22.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Raymond James Financial lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.00.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

NYSE BXMT opened at $11.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.90. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 12 month low of $10.11 and a 12 month high of $20.67. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $11.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.46.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $141.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.60 million. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a negative net margin of 48.18% and a positive return on equity of 9.17%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 0.50 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 31st will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This is a decrease from Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is -84.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Henry Nassau bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $11.43 per share, with a total value of $114,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 233,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,668,790.70. This trade represents a 4.47% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy Johnson bought 90,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.50 per share, with a total value of $1,035,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 617,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,105,850. The trade was a 17.05% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,716 shares of company stock valued at $46,815. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 21.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,297,062 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $24,839,000 after buying an additional 233,357 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the second quarter worth about $18,109,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 770,901 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,763,000 after acquiring an additional 19,423 shares during the period. Dupree Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 85.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dupree Financial Group LLC now owns 596,835 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,834,000 after purchasing an additional 274,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 0.6% in the 1st 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 last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile