Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Shares Purchased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 838,973 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 20,487 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.48% of Blackstone Mortgage Trust worth $14,607,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. True North Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 23,993 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $418,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,237 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $666,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 14,224 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares during the period. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 13,737 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,208 shares during the period. Finally, Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. now owns 156,276 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,769,000 after purchasing an additional 1,422 shares during the period. 64.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BXMT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted 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 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 for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.71.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

BXMT stock opened at $20.57 on Thursday. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.53 and a 1-year high of $21.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $18.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.56. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, analysts expect that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.14%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -160.68%.

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.