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

Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in 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. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 306,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.2 days. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of FBRT. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 42.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 787 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the second quarter worth about $41,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 51.6% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 1,588 shares during the period. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP acquired a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the second quarter worth about $76,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the first quarter worth about $136,000. 59.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of FBRT traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $12.86. 282,552 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 332,363. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 3.67, a current ratio of 90.45 and a quick ratio of 90.45. Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a twelve month low of $11.99 and a twelve month high of $14.66. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.99.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Announces Dividend

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

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).