BrightSpire Capital, Inc. (NYSE:BRSP) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

BrightSpire Capital, Inc. (NYSE:BRSP) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,800,000 shares, an increase of 25.9% from the May 31st total of 1,430,000 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 703,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BrightSpire Capital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in BrightSpire Capital by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,353,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,353,000 after acquiring an additional 873,407 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BrightSpire Capital by 0.4% in the first quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 4,449,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,657,000 after purchasing an additional 17,111 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BrightSpire Capital by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,561,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,620,000 after purchasing an additional 59,342 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BrightSpire Capital by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,490,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,086,000 after purchasing an additional 43,415 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of BrightSpire Capital in the fourth quarter worth $6,726,000. Institutional investors own 56.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on BRSP shares. Bank of America lowered BrightSpire Capital from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $6.50 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Raymond James lowered BrightSpire Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on BrightSpire Capital from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd.

BrightSpire Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BRSP traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $5.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,756,860 shares, compared to its average volume of 594,284. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $744.65 million, a P/E ratio of -10.36 and a beta of 1.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $6.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $6.66. BrightSpire Capital has a 12-month low of $5.20 and a 12-month high of $8.01.

BrightSpire Capital (NYSE:BRSP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $27.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.64 million. BrightSpire Capital had a positive return on equity of 9.36% and a negative net margin of 33.20%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that BrightSpire Capital will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

BrightSpire Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.04%. BrightSpire Capital’s payout ratio is -145.45%.

About BrightSpire Capital

BrightSpire Capital, Inc operates as a commercial real estate (CRE) credit real estate investment trust in the United States and Europe. The company operates through Senior and Mezzanine Loans and Preferred Equity; Net Leased and Other Real Estate; and Corporate and Other segments. It focuses on originating, acquiring, financing, and managing a diversified portfolio of CRE debt investments consisting of first mortgage loans, senior loans, debt securities, mezzanine loans, and preferred equity investments, as well as net leased properties.