Advisors Capital Management LLC Acquires 39,275 Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. $BXMT

Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,166,928 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,275 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC owned 0.70% of Blackstone Mortgage Trust worth $22,323,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 24.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,082,005 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $56,740,000 after acquiring an additional 603,588 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY raised its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,696,314 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,229,000 after buying an additional 101,701 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 70.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,077,590 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $19,838,000 after buying an additional 446,838 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 865,464 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,933,000 after buying an additional 71,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 727,769 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,398,000 after buying an additional 36,518 shares during the last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total value of $31,454.08. Following the sale, the president directly owned 76,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,453,136.96. This represents a 2.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BXMT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $21.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Monday, December 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.38.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock opened at $20.08 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.20. The company has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.90 and a beta of 1.00. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.67 and a 12-month high of $20.67.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.4%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 289.23%.

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.