Blackstone Inc. Increases Holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT)

Blackstone Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT - Free Report) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,601,492 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 652,537 shares during the quarter. Blackstone Mortgage Trust makes up approximately 0.7% of Blackstone Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Blackstone Inc. owned approximately 4.97% of Blackstone Mortgage Trust worth $149,752,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bridgefront Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 4th quarter valued at $266,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter valued at about $697,000. CF Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $2,350,000. Chapman Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $283,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 39.4% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,832,587 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $49,315,000 after purchasing an additional 801,083 shares in the last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.50 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $20.25.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock traded up $0.08 on Wednesday, reaching $18.77. The company had a trading volume of 816,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,737,823. The firm has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.04 and a beta of 1.12. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $19.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.88. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.51 and a 1 year high of $21.24.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) 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, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust's payout ratio is -408.70%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,315 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total transaction of $47,920.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,172 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,095,760.40. This represents a 0.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Henry N. Nassau bought 10,000 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $18.90 per share, for a total transaction of $189,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 182,946 shares in the company, valued at $3,457,679.40. This represents a 5.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,652 shares of company stock worth $116,971. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.