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

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $20.08.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BXMT shares. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $18.00 price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Up 0.6 %

BXMT stock opened at $19.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 655.67 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a twelve month low of $16.53 and a twelve month high of $23.29. The business has a fifty day moving average of $18.33 and a 200-day moving average of $18.37.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.04. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a negative net margin of 7.98% and a positive return on equity of 10.16%. The business had revenue of $466.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.87 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8,266.67%.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the real estate investment trust to purchase up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan purchased 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $17.16 per share, with a total value of $274,560.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 198,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,414,153.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, Director Henry N. Nassau bought 10,000 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $17.52 per share, for a total transaction of $175,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 165,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,900,558.64. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Katharine A. Keenan purchased 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $17.16 per share, for a total transaction of $274,560.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 198,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,414,153.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders purchased 83,050 shares of company stock valued at $1,448,135 and sold 1,495 shares valued at $27,899. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Park Place Capital Corp bought a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the second quarter worth $26,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 66.4% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,183 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 871 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, Wellington Shields & Co. LLC increased its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 98.0% during the second quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 4,555 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 2,255 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

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.