Cibc World Markets Corp Purchases New Position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT)

Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 16,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $283,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 125.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,204 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the third quarter valued at about $63,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 114.4% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 7,003 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 3,736 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 39.3% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1,416.7% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 9,631 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $168,000 after buying an additional 8,996 shares in the last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BXMT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted 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 note on Tuesday, February 25th. Wolfe Research raised 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 objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.67.

Insider Activity at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust 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 transaction 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 5,652 shares of company stock worth $116,971 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE BXMT opened at $20.27 on Wednesday. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.53 and a 12-month high of $21.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.90. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.32 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last issued its 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 positive return on equity of 8.62% and a negative net margin of 11.54%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -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.