Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $859,000 in Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 68,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $859,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Franklin BSP Realty Trust as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FBRT. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 42.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 787 shares in the last quarter. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the fourth quarter valued at about $58,000. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the third quarter valued at about $168,000. Longboard Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the fourth quarter worth about $174,000. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the third quarter worth about $189,000. Institutional investors own 59.87% of the company’s stock.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Trading Down 4.2 %

Shares of FBRT opened at $11.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 84.89 and a quick ratio of 90.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $980.41 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.37 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50-day moving average of $13.02 and a 200 day moving average of $12.93. Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.81 and a 1-year high of $14.12.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust (NYSE:FBRT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.01. Franklin BSP Realty Trust had a return on equity of 8.17% and a net margin of 45.56%. The business had revenue of $55.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.28 million. On average, research analysts expect that Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.41 EPS for the current year.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.355 per share. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.91%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 171.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FBRT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jones Trading reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $16.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, B. Riley raised Franklin BSP Realty Trust to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.50.

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).