Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) Shares Purchased by Moors & Cabot Inc.

Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) by 22.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 20,958 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,841 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Franklin BSP Realty Trust were worth $263,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FBRT. Amundi increased its stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 174.5% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 39,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $488,000 after purchasing an additional 25,139 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the fourth quarter valued at $859,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,162,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,584,000 after purchasing an additional 136,687 shares during the period. GraniteShares Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the fourth quarter valued at $2,475,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 396,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,977,000 after purchasing an additional 11,138 shares during the period. 59.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on FBRT. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $16.00 price objective on the stock. Jones Trading reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a report on Wednesday. Finally, B. Riley raised shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust to a “strong-buy” rating in a 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Franklin BSP Realty Trust presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.50.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Stock Up 1.3 %

FBRT stock opened at $13.28 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.99 and a beta of 1.37. Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $11.96 and a 52 week high of $14.12. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $12.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.97. The company has a current ratio of 84.89, a quick ratio of 90.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42.

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

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).