Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 26,795 Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. $BXMT

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) by 53.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,925 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 26,795 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust were worth $422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BXMT. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 45.5% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the third quarter worth $37,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 420.0% in the second quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 2,600 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 36.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,926 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares in the last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Down 0.9%

Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock opened at $19.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 30.70 and a beta of 1.07. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.51 and a 12-month high of $21.24. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $19.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.15.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $132.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $103.56 million. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 4.06%. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is presently 303.23%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In related news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 3,131 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.24, for a total transaction of $60,240.44. Following the sale, the president owned 78,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,512,898.92. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,049 shares of company stock valued at $98,716. 1.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, November 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.33.

About Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc (NYSE: BXMT) is a publicly traded real estate finance company that originates, acquires and manages commercial mortgage loans and other CRE debt investments. As an externally managed real estate investment trust (REIT), it seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns through the deployment of senior floating-rate and fixed-rate loans backed by income-producing properties.

The firm’s core business activities span the origination of senior mortgage loans, the acquisition of loan portfolios and other real estate debt instruments, and the active management of those investments.