Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Stock Performance

NYSE FBRT opened at $12.86 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.68 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 90.45, a quick ratio of 90.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.67. Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a 1 year low of $11.99 and a 1 year high of $14.66.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.04%. Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 173.17%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Franklin BSP Realty Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 181.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 92,432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,235,000 after acquiring an additional 59,586 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the 1st quarter worth approximately $6,012,000. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 54.6% in the 1st quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 130,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,737,000 after acquiring an additional 45,901 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,973,474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,886,000 after acquiring an additional 48,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 115.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 131,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,758,000 after acquiring an additional 70,549 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.87% of the company’s stock.

About Franklin BSP Realty Trust

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).