Short Interest in CTO Realty Growth, Inc. (NYSE:CTO) Increases By 56.1%

CTO Realty Growth, Inc. (NYSE:CTO) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,220,000 shares, an increase of 56.1% from the October 15th total of 781,400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 508,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

CTO Realty Growth Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CTO traded down $0.19 during trading on Thursday, hitting $19.51. 434,207 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 250,102. CTO Realty Growth has a 1-year low of $16.16 and a 1-year high of $21.15. The company has a market capitalization of $584.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.07 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 3.96 and a current ratio of 3.96.

CTO Realty Growth (NYSE:CTO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $31.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.15 million. CTO Realty Growth had a return on equity of 4.04% and a net margin of 17.10%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that CTO Realty Growth will post 1.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CTO Realty Growth Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 12th were given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 12th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.79%. CTO Realty Growth’s payout ratio is 257.63%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO John P. Albright sold 29,488 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.71, for a total transaction of $610,696.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 570,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,816,173.34. This represents a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christopher W. Haga sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.45, for a total value of $58,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 44,988 shares in the company, valued at $875,016.60. This represents a 6.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,488 shares of company stock valued at $726,616 in the last 90 days. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CTO Realty Growth

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CTO. Truvestments Capital LLC raised its position in shares of CTO Realty Growth by 0.4% during the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 155,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,962,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in CTO Realty Growth by 45.4% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 557 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in CTO Realty Growth by 1.3% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 45,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $797,000 after acquiring an additional 606 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of CTO Realty Growth by 17.5% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 673 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of CTO Realty Growth by 4.5% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 21,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 915 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Alliance Global Partners upgraded CTO Realty Growth to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James raised CTO Realty Growth from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded CTO Realty Growth from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.00.

CTO Realty Growth Company Profile

CTO Realty Growth, Inc is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns and operates a portfolio of high-quality, retail-based properties located primarily in higher growth markets in the United States. CTO also externally manages and owns a meaningful interest in Alpine Income Property Trust, Inc (NYSE: PINE), a publicly traded net lease REIT.