JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Price Target to $20.00

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) had its price target boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $17.50 to $20.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.64.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BXMT opened at $20.57 on Tuesday. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 1 year low of $16.53 and a 1 year high of $21.09. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.58 and a beta of 1.50.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 positive return on equity of 8.62% and a negative net margin of 11.54%. As a group, research analysts predict that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently -160.68%.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BXMT. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $466,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,695,000. Dupree Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 98.8% during the third quarter. Dupree Financial Group LLC now owns 273,560 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,200,000 after purchasing an additional 135,963 shares during the last quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 4.4% during the third quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC now owns 168,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,204,000 after purchasing an additional 7,108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,618 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 2,766 shares during the period. 64.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.