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

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $14.10 and last traded at $14.15, with a volume of 401017 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $14.42.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BXMT shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $22.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.20.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Up 3.1%

The firm has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 158.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.45.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $158.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.32 million. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a return on equity of 7.72% and a net margin of 1.57%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.21 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2,088.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Henry N. Nassau acquired 10,000 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $14.34 per share, with a total value of $143,400.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 218,523 shares in the company, valued at $3,133,619.82. This trade represents a 4.80% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 2,398 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.48, for a total transaction of $41,917.04. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 74,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,303,466.12. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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 sold a total of 5,420 shares of company stock worth $95,233 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BXMT. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 45.5% in 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 buying an additional 536 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 7.1% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 570,233 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,405,000 after purchasing an additional 37,838 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.0% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 73,679 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,474,000 after purchasing an additional 3,478 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 28.1% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 630,752 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,142,000 after purchasing an additional 138,469 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at about $226,000. Institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

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.