Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Given New $19.50 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) had its price objective hoisted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $18.50 to $19.50 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on BXMT. Wolfe Research upgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $17.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone Mortgage Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.29.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Up 2.4 %

NYSE:BXMT opened at $20.34 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.39. The stock has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a PE ratio of -14.64 and a beta of 1.50. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 52 week low of $16.53 and a 52 week high of $20.73.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.87) by $1.26. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a positive return on equity of 9.35% and a negative net margin of 12.91%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.24%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently -135.25%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,398,374 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $320,316,000 after acquiring an additional 63,338 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,534,980 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,134,000 after buying an additional 121,633 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,662,000. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,096,110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $19,083,000 after buying an additional 223,461 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 976,489 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $17,001,000 after buying an additional 197,154 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

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.