Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Short Interest Up 6.4% in March

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 26,810,000 shares, a growth of 6.4% from the March 15th total of 25,190,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 12.8 days.

Insider Activity at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In related news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.25, for a total value of $46,068.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 192,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,888,465.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,275 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.25, for a total value of $46,068.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 192,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,888,465.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,274 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.42, for a total value of $46,435.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 194,298 shares in the company, valued at $3,967,565.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,540 shares of company stock valued at $112,642. Corporate insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BXMT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 15.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,643,329 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $405,492,000 after acquiring an additional 2,470,412 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the fourth quarter worth $38,747,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 4,968.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 928,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $20,187,000 after acquiring an additional 909,838 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 308.3% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,143,826 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $24,215,000 after acquiring an additional 863,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blackstone Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 7,948,955 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $169,074,000 after acquiring an additional 686,881 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BXMT. BTIG Research decreased their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America lowered Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.50 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $18.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.83.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock opened at $18.23 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.93 and a beta of 1.42. The business’s fifty day moving average is $19.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.70. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a 52 week low of $16.83 and a 52 week high of $23.82.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.60%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 175.89%.

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.