Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Blackstone Mortgage Trust Call Options (NYSE:BXMT)

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 2,989 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 66% compared to the typical volume of 1,798 call options.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,323 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total value of $48,086.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 248,487 shares in the company, valued at $5,143,680.90. This represents a 0.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 5,652 shares of company stock worth $116,971 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blackstone Mortgage Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BXMT. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake 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 valued at $993,000 after purchasing an additional 8,500 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 838,973 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,607,000 after purchasing an additional 20,487 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the third quarter valued at approximately $821,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the third quarter valued at approximately $883,000. 64.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:BXMT opened at $20.71 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a PE ratio of -17.70 and a beta of 1.52. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a twelve month low of $16.53 and a twelve month high of $21.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $19.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.86.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Analysts anticipate that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.08%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s payout ratio is -160.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of 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. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.67.

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.