Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Price Target Cut to $19.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) had its price target lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $20.00 to $19.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Zacks Research downgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.75.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of BXMT stock opened at $17.07 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.99 and a beta of 0.90. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a twelve month low of $16.72 and a twelve month high of $20.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.81.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.0%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is presently 308.20%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other news, President Fernando Austin Pena sold 1,670 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.07, for a total value of $28,506.90. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 72,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,244,385.93. This represents a 2.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,420 shares of company stock valued at $95,233. Insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 45.5% in 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 during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 7.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 570,233 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,405,000 after buying an additional 37,838 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.0% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 73,679 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,474,000 after buying an additional 3,478 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 28.1% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 630,752 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,142,000 after buying an additional 138,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the second quarter worth $226,000. 64.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.