LPL Financial LLC Cuts Holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT)

LPL Financial LLC cut its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT - Free Report) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 234,566 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 24,127 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.14% of Blackstone Mortgage Trust worth $4,084,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BXMT. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 11.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 17,812 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 1,827 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 70,381 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 9,405 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $63,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at $350,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the third quarter worth $883,000. Institutional investors own 64.15% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BXMT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group upped their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $20.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,315 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total value 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 $5,095,760.40. This represents a 0.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,652 shares of company stock valued at $116,971. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

Shares of BXMT traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $18.18. The stock had a trading volume of 349,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,835,156. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.83. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.51 and a 1-year high of $21.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.53 and a beta of 1.22.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.34%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust's payout ratio is -160.68%.

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.