Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the six research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.6667.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FBRT. Jones Trading lowered their price objective on Franklin BSP Realty Trust from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $10.02. 654,562 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 547,654. The company has a market cap of $817.29 million, a PE ratio of 12.52 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $10.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.87. Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a twelve month low of $9.71 and a twelve month high of $13.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 81.24 and a quick ratio of 81.24.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.355 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.2%. Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 177.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Franklin BSP Realty Trust

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CWM LLC raised its position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 126.7% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the first quarter valued at about $39,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the 3rd quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter worth about $46,000. 59.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).