Franklin BSP Realty Trust (NYSE:FBRT) Shares Gap Up to $12.51

Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) shares gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $12.51, but opened at $12.85. Franklin BSP Realty Trust shares last traded at $12.66, with a volume of 60,478 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jonestrading cut their target price on Franklin BSP Realty Trust from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Raymond James raised 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. Finally, JMP Securities raised shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $15.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Price Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.15, a quick ratio of 83.74 and a current ratio of 83.74. The stock has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.77 and a beta of 1.43.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a dividend of $0.355 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.49%. Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.71%.

Institutional Trading of Franklin BSP Realty Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 92.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,757,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326,061 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC acquired a new stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the first quarter valued at approximately $16,702,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 28.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,624,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,655,000 after buying an additional 1,036,299 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 112.7% in the 2nd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 850,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,468,000 after acquiring an additional 450,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 672.2% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 402,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,423,000 after acquiring an additional 350,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.87% of the company’s stock.

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).