Private Advisor Group LLC Decreases Stock Position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT)

Private Advisor Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 86,502 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 21,078 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust were worth $1,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blackstone Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 7,948,955 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $169,074,000 after purchasing an additional 686,881 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter valued at $38,747,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 82.6% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,169,503 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $24,875,000 after buying an additional 528,950 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 21.7% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 785,499 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,683,000 after acquiring an additional 140,102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 364,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,744,000 after acquiring an additional 26,346 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BXMT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.58.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of BXMT opened at $19.21 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 640.33 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.53 and a 52 week high of $23.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.18 and a 200-day moving average of $18.38.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $466.15 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.87 million. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a negative net margin of 7.98% and a positive return on equity of 10.16%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.79%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8,266.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan bought 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $17.16 per share, with a total value of $274,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 198,960 shares in the company, valued at $3,414,153.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Timothy Steven Johnson purchased 57,050 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $17.50 per share, for a total transaction of $998,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 423,251 shares in the company, valued at $7,406,892.50. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Katharine A. Keenan acquired 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,414,153.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 83,050 shares of company stock worth $1,448,135 and have sold 6,502 shares worth $114,741. Insiders own 0.93% 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.