Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Shares Purchased by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 252,061 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,724 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust were worth $4,388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 4th quarter valued at $184,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 92,079 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 2,052 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 10,037 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $557,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 57,051 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $993,000 after purchasing an additional 8,500 shares in the last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given 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 Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of BXMT opened at $20.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.75 and a beta of 1.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.60. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.53 and a twelve month high of $21.09.

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

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.05%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is -160.68%.

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.