Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Trims Stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. $BXMT

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 400,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 25,000 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust were worth $7,700,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 240.2% in the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 40,339 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $807,000 after buying an additional 28,482 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the first quarter valued at about $3,232,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 24,799 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $492,000 after acquiring an additional 2,697 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 136,921 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,738,000 after acquiring an additional 3,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Fund Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 1st quarter worth approximately $487,000. 64.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 4,593 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.49, for a total value of $89,517.57. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,006 shares in the company, valued at $4,482,816.94. This trade represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 6,503 shares of company stock worth $126,682 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Monday, December 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.33.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Up 0.9%

Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock opened at $20.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.28 and a beta of 1.08. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.51 and a twelve month high of $21.24. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.10.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $132.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $103.56 million. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a return on equity of 4.06% and a net margin of 7.53%. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is 303.23%.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

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.