Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. Purchases Shares of 3,425 Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT)

Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 3,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 7.9% in 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 in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 79.8% in the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 20,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 9,218 shares in the last quarter. Orchard Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Orchard Capital Management LLC now owns 582,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,865,000 after purchasing an additional 30,321 shares in the last quarter. Sollinda Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the fourth quarter worth $176,000. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 66.4% in the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 84,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 33,567 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 12th. BTIG Research dropped their price target 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. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a research report on Thursday.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FBRT traded up $0.26 during trading on Friday, reaching $12.60. 754,908 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 299,202. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a PE ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 1.44. Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $11.99 and a 52 week high of $14.70. The company has a quick ratio of 88.39, a current ratio of 88.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The company’s 50 day moving average is $12.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.02.

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

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Announces Dividend

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

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).