Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 2,630 Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lessened its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 133,712 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,630 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.08% of Blackstone Mortgage Trust worth $2,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $44,134,000 after purchasing an additional 121,633 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 595,425 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,319,000 after buying an additional 8,444 shares during the last quarter. GFS Advisors LLC grew its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. GFS Advisors LLC now owns 511,180 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,900,000 after buying an additional 52,750 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 324,400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,648,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Price Performance

NYSE:BXMT opened at $20.28 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.33 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.53 and a 1 year high of $21.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $19.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.92.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.87) by $1.26. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a positive return on equity of 8.62% and a negative net margin of 11.54%. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -160.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on BXMT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wolfe Research raised Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone Mortgage Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,315 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total value of $47,920.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 246,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,095,760.40. This trade represents a 0.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 5,652 shares of company stock worth $116,971 in the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust 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.