Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) Hits New 1-Year High - Still a Buy?

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $21.18 and last traded at $21.04, with a volume of 989821 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $20.91.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BXMT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of 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. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $20.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $20.67.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Down 1.7 %

The firm has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a PE ratio of -17.70 and a beta of 1.52. The company's fifty day moving average price is $19.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.86.

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Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT - Get Free Report) last announced 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, analysts predict that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -160.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,315 shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $5,095,760.40. The trade was a 0.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,652 shares of company stock worth $116,971. Insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 0.3% during 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. grew its holdings 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 worth $149,752,000 after buying an additional 652,537 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings 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 worth $49,315,000 after buying an additional 801,083 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 5.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 121,633 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,662,000. 64.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.