Blackstone Mortgage Trust Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:BXMT)

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 2,989 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 66% compared to the typical volume of 1,798 call options.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,315 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total value of $47,920.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,095,760.40. The trade was a 0.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,652 shares of company stock valued at $116,971. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the third quarter worth about $211,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1,700.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 18,907 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 17,857 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 167.8% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 173,034 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,289,000 after acquiring an additional 108,409 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the third quarter worth $821,000. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 23.0% during the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 56,422 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,072,000 after purchasing an additional 10,540 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on BXMT shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.67.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $21.14. The company had a trading volume of 389,384 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,734,806. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.06 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 12-month low of $16.53 and a 12-month high of $21.24.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts expect that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.90%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently -160.68%.

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.