Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Sells 1,400 Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) by 30.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,155 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,400 shares during the period. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Blackstone Mortgage Trust were worth $55,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BXMT. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased 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. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 167.8% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 173,034 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,289,000 after purchasing an additional 108,409 shares in the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,937,000. Centiva Capital LP increased its stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 405.5% in the third quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 60,128 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,143,000 after purchasing an additional 79,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,326,000. 64.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BXMT has been the subject of several research reports. 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 report on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $18.50 to $19.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.67.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of BXMT opened at $20.61 on Friday. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.53 and a 12 month high of $21.09. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.61 and a beta of 1.52.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last announced 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 negative net margin of 11.54% and a positive return on equity of 8.62%. As a group, research analysts predict that Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.12%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently -160.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone Mortgage Trust

In other Blackstone Mortgage Trust news, CEO Katharine A. Keenan sold 2,323 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 trade represents a 0.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 3,345 shares of company stock worth $68,265 over the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by 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.