CTO Realty Growth, Inc. (NYSE:CTO) Short Interest Update

CTO Realty Growth, Inc. (NYSE:CTO) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,220,000 shares, an increase of 56.1% from the October 15th total of 781,400 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 508,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO John P. Albright sold 29,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.71, for a total value of $610,696.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 570,554 shares in the company, valued at $11,816,173.34. This trade represents a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Christopher W. Haga sold 3,000 shares of CTO Realty Growth stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.19, for a total value of $57,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 44,988 shares in the company, valued at $863,319.72. This represents a 6.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 35,488 shares of company stock worth $726,616. Insiders own 5.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CTO Realty Growth

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. acquired a new position in CTO Realty Growth in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CTO Realty Growth by 45.4% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 557 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of CTO Realty Growth in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of CTO Realty Growth during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in CTO Realty Growth by 17.5% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. 67.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CTO Realty Growth Price Performance

CTO Realty Growth stock opened at $19.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.96, a quick ratio of 3.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $19.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.63. CTO Realty Growth has a 12-month low of $16.16 and a 12-month high of $21.15. The stock has a market cap of $585.43 million, a P/E ratio of 33.10 and a beta of 0.76.

CTO Realty Growth (NYSE:CTO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.27). CTO Realty Growth had a net margin of 17.10% and a return on equity of 4.04%. The firm had revenue of $31.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.15 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.48 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CTO Realty Growth will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current year.

CTO Realty Growth Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 12th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 12th. CTO Realty Growth’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 257.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CTO has been the topic of several research reports. Alliance Global Partners raised shares of CTO Realty Growth to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James raised shares of CTO Realty Growth from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut CTO Realty Growth from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $21.00.

About CTO Realty Growth

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.