True North Advisors LLC Acquires 619 Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT)

True North Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,435 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the quarter. True North Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust were worth $446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BXMT. Park Place Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 66.4% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,183 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 871 shares during the period. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the fourth quarter worth $51,000. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC lifted its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 98.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 4,555 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 2,255 shares during the period. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 1st quarter valued at about $83,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other news, Director Henry N. Nassau purchased 10,000 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $17.52 per share, for a total transaction of $175,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 165,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,900,558.64. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan bought 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $17.16 per share, with a total value of $274,560.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 198,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,414,153.60. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Henry N. Nassau purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $17.52 per share, for a total transaction of $175,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 165,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,900,558.64. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 83,050 shares of company stock worth $1,448,135 and sold 1,495 shares worth $27,899. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of BXMT stock opened at $17.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a PE ratio of 595.33 and a beta of 1.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.26. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.53 and a 12 month high of $23.29.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.04. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a positive return on equity of 10.16% and a negative net margin of 7.98%. The business had revenue of $466.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.87 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the real estate investment trust to repurchase up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.53%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6,266.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BXMT shares. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Friday, July 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.08.

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.