Franklin Street Properties Corp. (FSP) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.01 on May 9th

Franklin Street Properties Corp. (NYSE:FSP) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 5th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be paid a dividend of 0.01 per share on Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th.

Franklin Street Properties has decreased its dividend by an average of 51.9% annually over the last three years. Franklin Street Properties has a payout ratio of -22.2% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Franklin Street Properties to earn $0.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.0%.

Franklin Street Properties Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FSP opened at $1.97 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $203.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.21 and a beta of 0.82. Franklin Street Properties has a 52 week low of $1.13 and a 52 week high of $2.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $2.25 and a 200 day moving average of $2.26.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Franklin Street Properties

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FSP. Madison Avenue Partners LP increased its position in shares of Franklin Street Properties by 246.0% during the fourth quarter. Madison Avenue Partners LP now owns 5,044,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,770,000 after purchasing an additional 3,586,047 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Street Properties during the first quarter worth $4,803,000. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Franklin Street Properties by 86.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,843,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316,732 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Franklin Street Properties by 178.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,013,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290,815 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Franklin Street Properties by 307.8% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,409,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064,139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Franklin Street Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday.

Franklin Street Properties Company Profile

Franklin Street Properties Corp., based in Wakefield, Massachusetts, is focused on infill and central business district (CBD) office properties in the U.S. Sunbelt and Mountain West, as well as select opportunistic markets. FSP seeks value-oriented investments with an eye towards long-term growth and appreciation, as well as current income.