Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) Short Interest Up 10.6% in November

Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) saw a significant growth in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,780,000 shares, a growth of 10.6% from the November 15th total of 1,610,000 shares. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 316,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James increased their target price on 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. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $16.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.50.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FBRT opened at $13.13 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 90.45, a current ratio of 90.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.67. The stock has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 16.01 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s fifty day moving average is $12.98 and its 200 day moving average is $13.00. Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a 52 week low of $11.99 and a 52 week high of $14.66.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.355 dividend. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 173.17%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Franklin BSP Realty Trust

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 42.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 787 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the second quarter worth about $41,000. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 51.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,588 shares during the period. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP bought a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $168,000. 59.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).