Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.64.

A number of research firms have recently commented on BXMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BXMT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,398,374 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $320,316,000 after buying an additional 63,338 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 8,601,492 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $149,752,000 after acquiring an additional 652,537 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 39.4% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,832,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,315,000 after acquiring an additional 801,083 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,534,980 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,134,000 after purchasing an additional 121,633 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,662,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Down 1.5 %

BXMT stock opened at $20.26 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $18.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.46. The company has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.31 and a beta of 1.50. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 52 week low of $16.53 and a 52 week high of $21.09.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.87) by $1.26. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a positive return on equity of 8.62% and a negative net margin of 11.54%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is -160.68%.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

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.