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

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.29.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BXMT. Wolfe Research raised Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. 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 report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $17.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BXMT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,398,374 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $320,316,000 after acquiring an additional 63,338 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.0% in the fourth 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. 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. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,096,110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $19,083,000 after buying an additional 223,461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its stake in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

NYSE:BXMT opened at $20.34 on Monday. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a one year low of $16.53 and a one year high of $20.73. The company has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a PE ratio of -14.64 and a beta of 1.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $18.27 and a 200-day moving average of $18.39.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.47 per share. 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 payout ratio is -135.25%.

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.