Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) CEO Acquires $1,035,000.00 in Stock

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) CEO Timothy Johnson acquired 90,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $11.50 per share, with a total value of $1,035,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 617,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,105,850. This trade represents a 17.05% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock opened at $11.15 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.00, a PEG ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.90. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.11 and a 12 month high of $20.67.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.14. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a negative net margin of 48.18% and a positive return on equity of 9.17%. The firm had revenue of $141.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $148.60 million. Analysts anticipate that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 0.50 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.8%. This is a negative change from Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is currently -84.30%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BXMT. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at about $18,109,000. Dupree Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 85.1% in the third quarter. Dupree Financial Group LLC now owns 596,835 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,834,000 after purchasing an additional 274,361 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 758.3% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 185,148 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,546,000 after buying an additional 163,577 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 21.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,297,062 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $24,839,000 after buying an additional 233,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 75.7% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 238,916 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,575,000 after buying an additional 102,904 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial downgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone Mortgage Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.00.

About Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust that originates and manages senior loans secured by commercial properties. The company primarily provides floating-rate mortgage financing to owners and sponsors of institutional-quality real estate, earning income from interest and other fees associated with its lending activities.

Its loan portfolio has historically included properties across sectors such as office, multifamily, hotel, industrial, retail and life sciences.