Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Sets New 52-Week Low - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• BXMT shares hit a new 52-week low, falling to $13.58 and trading below both their 50-day ($15.29) and 200-day ($17.54) moving averages.
• Analyst sentiment has weakened, with recent downgrades and reduced price targets; the stock has a consensus “Hold” rating and an average target of $19.20.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $0.31, missing the $0.41 estimate, while maintaining a $0.47 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 13.8% annualized yield.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $13.58 and last traded at $13.6510, with a volume of 319818 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $13.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BXMT. Raymond James Financial downgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $22.00 to $18.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "market perform" rating and set a $16.00 target price (down from $20.00) on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $19.20.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

The business's 50-day moving average price is $15.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.54. The company has a market capitalization of $2.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 150.94, a PEG ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 0.90.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $158.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.32 million. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a net margin of 1.57% and a return on equity of 7.72%. Research analysts expect that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.8%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust's payout ratio is presently 2,088.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, President Fernando Pena sold 2,398 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total transaction of $41,917.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 74,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,303,466.12. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Henry Nassau acquired 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $14.34 per share, with a total value of $143,400.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 218,523 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,133,619.82. This represents a 4.80% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,420 shares of company stock valued at $95,233. Company insiders own 1.18% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BXMT. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 3.5% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 46,722 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $792,000 after acquiring an additional 1,579 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.6% in the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 29,607 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $502,000 after acquiring an additional 1,583 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $537,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 2nd quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the second quarter valued at about $815,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.15% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc NYSE: BXMT is a publicly traded real estate finance company that originates, acquires and manages commercial mortgage loans and other CRE debt investments. As an externally managed real estate investment trust (REIT), it seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns through the deployment of senior floating-rate and fixed-rate loans backed by income-producing properties.

The firm's core business activities span the origination of senior mortgage loans, the acquisition of loan portfolios and other real estate debt instruments, and the active management of those investments.

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