Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys New Shares in Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 68,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $859,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 42.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 787 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 19,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 19,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 1,402 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 48,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $599,000 after buying an additional 1,501 shares during the period. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 10.2% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 19,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 1,831 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Price Performance

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

Franklin BSP Realty Trust (NYSE:FBRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $55.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.28 million. Franklin BSP Realty Trust had a return on equity of 8.17% and a net margin of 45.56%. As a group, research analysts predict that Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Announces Dividend

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

About Franklin BSP Realty Trust

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).