The Executive Chairman of the Board of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT), Michael Nash, Just Bought 12% More Shares

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE:BXMT) shareholders (or potential shareholders) will be happy to see that the Executive Chairman of the Board, Michael Nash, recently bought a whopping US$943k worth of stock, at a price of US$18.86. Aside from being a solid chunk in its own right, the deft move also saw their holding increase by some 12%.

Check out our latest analysis for Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent purchase by Executive Chairman of the Board Michael Nash was not their only acquisition of Blackstone Mortgage Trust shares this year. Earlier in the year, they paid US$26.14 per share in a US$1.0m purchase. That means that even when the share price was higher than US$18.67 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock if insiders have bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price.

In the last twelve months Blackstone Mortgage Trust insiders were buying shares, but not selling. The average buy price was around US$22.86. This is nice to see since it implies that insiders might see value around current prices. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Insider Ownership

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Blackstone Mortgage Trust insiders own about US$36m worth of shares. That equates to 1.1% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Do The Blackstone Mortgage Trust Insider Transactions Indicate?

It is good to see the recent insider purchase. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. Given that insiders also own a fair bit of Blackstone Mortgage Trust we think they are probably pretty confident of a bright future. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Blackstone Mortgage Trust. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Blackstone Mortgage Trust you should know about.

But note: Blackstone Mortgage Trust may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.