Blackstone Mortgage Trust Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:BXMT)

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders acquired 2,989 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 66% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,798 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,315 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total transaction of $47,920.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,095,760.40. This represents a 0.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,652 shares of company stock valued at $116,971. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 17.5% in 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 during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 838,973 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,607,000 after buying an additional 20,487 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 3rd quarter worth about $821,000. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the third quarter worth $883,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,534,980 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,134,000 after purchasing an additional 121,633 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.15% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:BXMT traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $21.14. 389,384 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,734,806. The stock has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of -18.06 and a beta of 1.52. The business’s fifty day moving average is $19.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.83. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a one year low of $16.53 and a one year high of $21.24.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently -160.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BXMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. 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. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.67.

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.