HighTower Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT)

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) by 24.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 146,786 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 46,303 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust were worth $2,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BXMT. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 125.7% in the fourth 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 purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 3rd quarter worth about $63,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 3,736 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,145 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 10,037 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $175,000 after buying an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BXMT has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wolfe Research raised Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone Mortgage Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.67.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock opened at $20.71 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.86. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.70 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.53 and a 12-month high of $21.24.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.08%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently -160.68%.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust 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.