Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 19,480,000 shares, a drop of 6.6% from the January 15th total of 20,860,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,530,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 12.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on BXMT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $20.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $20.64.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

BXMT traded down $0.32 during trading on Friday, reaching $20.26. The stock had a trading volume of 2,144,231 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,804,457. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a PE ratio of -17.31 and a beta of 1.50. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a one year low of $16.53 and a one year high of $21.09. The business has a 50-day moving average of $18.38 and a 200-day moving average of $18.46.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.28%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust's dividend payout ratio is currently -160.68%.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,398,374 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $320,316,000 after buying an additional 63,338 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 652,537 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 39.4% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 801,083 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.0% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 121,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,662,000. 64.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.