70,300 Shares in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. $BXMT Purchased by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 70,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,346,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BXMT. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 24,602 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $482,000 after buying an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 45.5% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Kennicott Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Kennicott Capital Management LLC now owns 36,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $697,000 after acquiring an additional 921 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 249,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,592,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 6,152 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 2,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total transaction of $41,917.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 74,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,303,466.12. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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. Insiders have sold 5,420 shares of company stock worth $95,233 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone Mortgage Trust presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.00.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE BXMT opened at $17.23 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $18.35 and its 200 day moving average is $19.03. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.88 and a 52 week high of $20.67. The company has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.25 and a beta of 0.90.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.9%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is presently 308.20%.

About Blackstone Mortgage Trust

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.