Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Short Interest Update

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,200,000 shares, a decrease of 14.7% from the February 28th total of 17,810,000 shares. Currently, 8.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,780,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BXMT shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.50 to $20.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone Mortgage Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.83.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE BXMT traded up $0.10 on Wednesday, hitting $20.00. 515,712 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,778,148. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $19.72 and a 200-day moving average of $18.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.09 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 52 week low of $16.53 and a 52 week high of $21.24.

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

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is -160.68%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,315 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total value of $47,920.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,095,760.40. This represents a 0.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,652 shares of company stock worth $116,971. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 57,051 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $993,000 after buying an additional 8,500 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 838,973 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,607,000 after buying an additional 20,487 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,534,980 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,134,000 after acquiring an additional 121,633 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the third quarter worth approximately $883,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 70,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 9,405 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

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.