Short Interest in Lument Finance Trust, Inc. (NYSE:LFT) Grows By 76.6%

Lument Finance Trust, Inc. (NYSE:LFT) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 112,500 shares, a growth of 76.6% from the December 15th total of 63,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 113,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.0 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Raymond James lowered Lument Finance Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lument Finance Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new position in shares of Lument Finance Trust in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Lument Finance Trust in the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Sei Investments Co. bought a new position in Lument Finance Trust in the 2nd quarter worth $54,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Lument Finance Trust in the 2nd quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Lument Finance Trust by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 26,198 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 11,001 shares during the period. 19.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lument Finance Trust Stock Up 0.8 %

LFT traded up $0.02 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $2.57. 35,749 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 163,969. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2.54. The company has a current ratio of 6.29, a quick ratio of 6.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.39. Lument Finance Trust has a 12-month low of $2.16 and a 12-month high of $2.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.14 and a beta of 1.07.

Lument Finance Trust (NYSE:LFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The technology company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.01. Lument Finance Trust had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 18.19%. The business had revenue of $28.93 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.06 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. Analysts predict that Lument Finance Trust will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lument Finance Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.01%. Lument Finance Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 88.89%.

Lument Finance Trust Company Profile

Lument Finance Trust, Inc, a real estate investment trust, focuses on investing in, financing, and managing a portfolio of commercial real estate (CRE) debt investments in the United States. The company primarily invests in transitional floating rate CRE mortgage loans on middle market multi-family assets; and other CRE -related investments, including mezzanine loans, preferred equity, commercial mortgage-backed securities, fixed rate loans, construction loans, and other CRE debt instruments.