Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) Short Interest Up 7.0% in December

Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,830,000 shares, a growth of 7.0% from the December 15th total of 1,710,000 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 357,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.1 days.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of FBRT stock opened at $12.65 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.98. Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a 1 year low of $11.96 and a 1 year high of $14.11. The company has a current ratio of 90.45, a quick ratio of 90.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.67. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.43 and a beta of 1.39.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.355 per share. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 173.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on FBRT shares. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $16.00 target price on the stock. B. Riley raised Franklin BSP Realty Trust to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $15.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FBRT. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 19,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 1,402 shares in the last quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 1,157,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,510,000 after acquiring an additional 101,951 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 136,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 24,633 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,939,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,335,000 after acquiring an additional 9,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the third quarter valued at approximately $189,000. Institutional investors own 59.87% of the company’s stock.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Company Profile

Benefit Street Partners operates as a self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). BSP earns income from investing in a leveraged portfolio of residential mortgage pass-through securities consisting almost exclusively of adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) securities issued and guaranteed by government-sponsored enterprises, either Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) or Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (together, the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs)), or by an agency of the federal government, Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae).