Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) Short Interest Update

Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,900,000 shares, a growth of 8.6% from the October 15th total of 1,750,000 shares. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 306,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.2 days.

Institutional Trading of Franklin BSP Realty Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the first quarter worth $6,012,000. Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 28.7% during the third quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 1,055,160 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,780,000 after purchasing an additional 235,548 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 33.6% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 659,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,313,000 after purchasing an additional 166,120 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 13.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,026,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,403,000 after purchasing an additional 117,745 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 3.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,359,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,059,000 after purchasing an additional 116,589 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 59.87% of the company’s stock.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FBRT traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $12.83. 251,052 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 311,570. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $13.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.99. The stock has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65 and a beta of 1.41. Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a one year low of $11.99 and a one year high of $14.66. The company has a quick ratio of 90.45, a current ratio of 90.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.67.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.355 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.07%. Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s payout ratio is presently 173.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust from $15.00 to $15.50 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th.

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).