Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Sells 476 Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT – Get Rating) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 17,839 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 476 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust were worth $416,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,060,492 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $478,773,000 after purchasing an additional 327,988 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 3.3% during the second quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,021,673 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $55,940,000 after acquiring an additional 64,264 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 3.8% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,916,803 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $60,936,000 after acquiring an additional 69,295 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 17.6% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,848,316 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $57,950,000 after acquiring an additional 277,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 3.2% during the third quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,746,353 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,776,000 after acquiring an additional 53,809 shares during the last quarter. 54.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on BXMT. TheStreet lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 6th. Credit Suisse Group decreased their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust to $27.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 13th. StockNews.com began coverage on Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $30.00 to $27.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, December 15th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 1,159 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.61, for a total transaction of $27,363.99. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 170,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,030,675.59. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,299 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.53, for a total transaction of $54,095.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,962,922.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 1,159 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.61, for a total transaction of $27,363.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 170,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,030,675.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,753 shares of company stock valued at $112,544 over the last quarter. 1.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

NYSE BXMT opened at $23.47 on Tuesday. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.87 and a fifty-two week high of $32.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.50 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.85.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.04. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 30th were given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.57%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 29th. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is 100.40%.

About Blackstone Mortgage Trust

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Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc is a real estate finance company, which engages in originating senior loans collateralized by commercial real estate. Its investment objective is to preserve and protect shareholder capital while producing risk-adjusted returns primarily through dividends generated from current income from its loan portfolio.