Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Price Target Raised to $19.50 at UBS Group

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) had its price objective raised by UBS Group from $18.50 to $19.50 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone Mortgage Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.71.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

BXMT stock opened at $20.38 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $18.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.54. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a fifty-two week low of $16.53 and a fifty-two week high of $21.09. The firm has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of -17.42 and a beta of 1.50.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.87) by $1.26. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a negative net margin of 11.54% and a positive return on equity of 8.62%. On average, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is currently -160.68%.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. 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 during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1,672.9% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 3,014 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 2,844 shares in the last quarter. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the fourth quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the third quarter worth approximately $63,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

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.