Analysts Set Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) Price Target at $15.50

Shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $15.50.

FBRT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. B. Riley raised shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a research report on Wednesday. Jones Trading reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $16.00 price target for the company.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of FBRT opened at $13.28 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.99 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 90.45, a current ratio of 84.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.97. Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a twelve month low of $11.96 and a twelve month high of $14.12.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust (NYSE:FBRT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. Franklin BSP Realty Trust had a net margin of 45.56% and a return on equity of 8.17%. The firm had revenue of $55.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.28 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Franklin BSP Realty Trust will post 1.41 EPS for the current year.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.70%. Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 171.08%.

Institutional Trading of Franklin BSP Realty Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC increased its stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 12,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,000 after purchasing an additional 2,288 shares in the last quarter. PharVision Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $135,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 149,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,870,000 after purchasing an additional 24,935 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 44.5% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 24,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 7,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 801,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,055,000 after acquiring an additional 72,621 shares during the last quarter. 59.87% of the stock is currently owned by 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).