Blackstone Mortgage Trust Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:BXMT)

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders bought 67,797 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 8,809% compared to the average daily volume of 761 call options.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Stock Performance

BXMT stock opened at $19.13 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $19.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.17. Blackstone Mortgage Trust has a one year low of $16.51 and a one year high of $21.24. The company has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 30.85 and a beta of 1.08.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE:BXMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.05. Blackstone Mortgage Trust had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 4.06%. The company had revenue of $132.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $103.56 million. On average, research analysts predict that Blackstone Mortgage Trust will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.8%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 303.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BXMT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Blackstone Mortgage Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $20.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in a research report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Blackstone Mortgage Trust from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.33.

Institutional Trading of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP bought a new position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the second quarter valued at $1,588,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,080,000. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust during the 1st quarter valued at about $650,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 1,078,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $20,769,000 after acquiring an additional 45,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ellis Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Blackstone Mortgage Trust by 3.8% in the second quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC now owns 177,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,422,000 after acquiring an additional 6,538 shares in the last quarter. 64.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Company Profile

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc (NYSE: BXMT) is a publicly traded real estate finance company that originates, acquires and manages commercial mortgage loans and other CRE debt investments. As an externally managed real estate investment trust (REIT), it seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns through the deployment of senior floating-rate and fixed-rate loans backed by income-producing properties.

The firm’s core business activities span the origination of senior mortgage loans, the acquisition of loan portfolios and other real estate debt instruments, and the active management of those investments.