Short Interest in Lument Finance Trust, Inc. (NYSE:LFT) Drops By 62.0%

Lument Finance Trust, Inc. (NYSE:LFT) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totaling 489,207 shares, a decline of 62.0% from the June 15th total of 1,288,272 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 732,654 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.7 days. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Lument Finance Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Lument Finance Trust by 4,362.3% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 22,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 21,637 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Lument Finance Trust by 3,989.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 14,640 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 14,282 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Lument Finance Trust by 102.2% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 19,556 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 9,882 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Lument Finance Trust by 302.0% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 32,987 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 24,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Lument Finance Trust during the second quarter worth $55,000. 19.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lument Finance Trust Price Performance

Shares of LFT stock traded down $0.00 on Wednesday, reaching $0.93. 552,115 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 212,156. Lument Finance Trust has a 1 year low of $0.91 and a 1 year high of $2.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.16, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 3.03. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $1.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.23. The company has a market cap of $48.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.18 and a beta of 0.53.

Lument Finance Trust (NYSE:LFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 15th. The technology company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.04). Lument Finance Trust had a negative net margin of 2.59% and a positive return on equity of 5.65%. The company had revenue of ($5.69) million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.58 million.

Lument Finance Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a $0.04 dividend. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 17.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. Lument Finance Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -123.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on LFT. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lument Finance Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Lument Finance Trust in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Sell”.

Lument Finance Trust Company Profile

Lument Finance Trust is a real estate investment trust that focuses on originating and acquiring senior secured loans backed by commercial real estate properties. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker LFT, the company seeks to generate attractive risk‐adjusted returns by targeting floating‐rate, first‐mortgage loans across a broad range of property types, including multifamily, office, retail, industrial and hospitality.

The firm’s core business activity centers on deploying capital into short‐ and medium‐term financing solutions for institutional real estate owners and developers.