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

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Franklin BSP Realty Trust

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FBRT. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 42.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 787 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $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 worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 1,588 shares during the period. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP purchased a new stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $76,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at $168,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.87% of the company’s stock.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Price Performance

FBRT opened at $13.13 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $12.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.00. Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a twelve month low of $11.99 and a twelve month high of $14.66. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.01 and a beta of 1.40.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FBRT shares. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $16.00 price target for the company. Raymond James increased their price objective on Franklin BSP Realty Trust from $15.00 to $15.50 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $15.50.

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).