Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Declares $0.47 Quarterly Dividend

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 17th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.47 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.08%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust has increased its dividend payment by an average of 6.4% per year over the last three years. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a payout ratio of 125.3% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Blackstone Mortgage Trust to earn $1.65 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 113.9%.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Down 2.4 %

BXMT stock traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $18.65. 1,612,940 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,891,558. The company has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.75 and a beta of 1.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $18.64 and its 200-day moving average is $18.34. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 52-week low of $16.53 and a 52-week high of $23.10.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research raised Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.07.

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.