Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. Takes Position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT)

Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 690,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,055,000 after buying an additional 50,332 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the 4th quarter worth about $644,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $616,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the 4th quarter worth approximately $555,000. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 66.4% during the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 84,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 33,567 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.87% of the company’s stock.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:FBRT traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $12.60. 754,908 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 299,202. The company has a current ratio of 88.39, a quick ratio of 88.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 1.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $12.79 and a 200 day moving average of $13.02. Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.99 and a twelve month high of $14.70.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust (NYSE:FBRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $53.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.64 million. Franklin BSP Realty Trust had a return on equity of 14.32% and a net margin of 53.82%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.44 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.27%. Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 107.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FBRT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BTIG Research reduced their price objective on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Franklin BSP Realty Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 12th.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust 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).