CTO Realty Growth, Inc. (NYSE:CTO) Short Interest Down 37.5% in October

CTO Realty Growth, Inc. (NYSE:CTO) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 781,400 shares, a drop of 37.5% from the September 30th total of 1,250,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 456,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on CTO. Alliance Global Partners upgraded shares of CTO Realty Growth to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of CTO Realty Growth from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $20.33.

CTO Realty Growth Stock Performance

Shares of CTO stock opened at $19.56 on Friday. CTO Realty Growth has a 12-month low of $15.64 and a 12-month high of $21.15. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.35. The company has a current ratio of 3.42, a quick ratio of 3.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $448.82 million, a PE ratio of 35.56 and a beta of 0.76.

CTO Realty Growth (NYSE:CTO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.27). CTO Realty Growth had a net margin of 14.52% and a return on equity of 3.55%. The company had revenue of $31.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. Analysts expect that CTO Realty Growth will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CTO Realty Growth Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 12th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.77%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 12th. CTO Realty Growth’s dividend payout ratio is presently 276.36%.

Insider Transactions at CTO Realty Growth

In related news, Director Christopher W. Haga sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.45, for a total transaction of $58,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 44,988 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $875,016.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CTO Realty Growth

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CTO. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in CTO Realty Growth by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,925 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in CTO Realty Growth by 4.1% during the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 34,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in CTO Realty Growth by 11.9% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 393,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,666,000 after purchasing an additional 41,938 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in CTO Realty Growth by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,079,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,303,000 after purchasing an additional 5,617 shares during the period. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of CTO Realty Growth during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.18% of the company’s stock.

CTO Realty Growth Company Profile

CTO Realty Growth, Inc is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns and operates a portfolio of high-quality, retail-based properties located primarily in higher growth markets in the United States. CTO also externally manages and owns a meaningful interest in Alpine Income Property Trust, Inc (NYSE: PINE), a publicly traded net lease REIT.