Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Buys 13,477 Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) by 15.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 102,663 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,477 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC owned about 0.06% of Blackstone Mortgage Trust worth $1,787,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 125.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,162 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,204 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 114.4% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 7,003 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 3,736 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 39.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,601 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 2,145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $172,000. Institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.67.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In related news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,323 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total value of $48,086.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 248,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,143,680.90. This trade represents a 0.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 3,345 shares of company stock worth $68,265 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of BXMT stock opened at $20.61 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $19.09 and a 200-day moving average of $18.77. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.53 and a 12-month high of $21.09. The firm has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.61 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.87) by $1.26. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a negative net margin of 11.54% and a positive return on equity of 8.62%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.12%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is currently -160.68%.

About Blackstone Mortgage Trust

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.