Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.64.

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note 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 target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Down 1.5 %

BXMT opened at $20.26 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.31 and a beta of 1.50. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a twelve month low of $16.53 and a twelve month high of $21.09. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $18.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.50.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.87) by $1.26. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a negative net margin of 11.54% and a positive return on equity of 8.62%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $821,000. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $883,000. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 70,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 9,405 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $211,000. Finally, Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $715,000. 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.