Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Price Target to $20.00

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) had its target price decreased by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $20.50 to $20.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 8.84% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.75.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Down 4.8 %

BXMT stock opened at $18.38 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $19.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.94. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 12 month low of $16.53 and a 12 month high of $21.24. The company has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.71 and a beta of 1.22.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) 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, research analysts expect that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In related news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,323 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total value of $48,086.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 248,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,143,680.90. This trade represents a 0.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 5,652 shares of company stock worth $116,971 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BXMT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,398,374 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $320,316,000 after acquiring an additional 63,338 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 8,601,492 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $149,752,000 after purchasing an additional 652,537 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 39.4% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,832,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,315,000 after purchasing an additional 801,083 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,534,980 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,134,000 after buying an additional 121,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,662,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

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.