JMP Securities Reiterates Market Outperform Rating for Franklin BSP Realty Trust (NYSE:FBRT)

JMP Securities reissued their market outperform rating on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust (NYSE:FBRT) in a research report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a $15.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on FBRT. Raymond James raised shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating and set a $15.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, April 12th. BTIG Research decreased their target price on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Stock Performance

FBRT opened at $12.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 88.39 and a current ratio of 88.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a fifty day moving average of $12.79 and a 200 day moving average of $13.01. Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a fifty-two week low of $11.99 and a fifty-two week high of $14.70.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust (NYSE:FBRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.01). Franklin BSP Realty Trust had a net margin of 53.82% and a return on equity of 14.32%. The firm had revenue of $53.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.64 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Franklin BSP Realty Trust will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.355 per share. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 107.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Franklin BSP Realty Trust

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. 1832 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the first quarter worth about $6,012,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 115.5% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 131,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,758,000 after acquiring an additional 70,549 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 181.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 92,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,235,000 after purchasing an additional 59,586 shares during the period. Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 7.9% during the first quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 690,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,055,000 after purchasing an additional 50,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,973,474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,886,000 after purchasing an additional 48,171 shares during the period. 59.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).