Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the six ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $14.6667.

FBRT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jones Trading reduced their target price on Franklin BSP Realty Trust from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Franklin BSP Realty Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,237,000. Gratia Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 42.1% in the second quarter. Gratia Capital LLC now owns 817,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,743,000 after acquiring an additional 242,395 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the first quarter worth about $2,542,000. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 873,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,481,000 after purchasing an additional 168,993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 153.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 202,086 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,160,000 after purchasing an additional 122,339 shares during the period. 59.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Trading Up 2.9%

NYSE:FBRT traded up $0.29 on Friday, hitting $10.02. 654,562 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 547,654. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 81.24 and a current ratio of 81.24. Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a 52 week low of $9.71 and a 52 week high of $13.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $817.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $10.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.87.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.355 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.2%. Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s payout ratio is currently 177.50%.

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).