Mariner LLC Acquires 2,746 Shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT)

Mariner LLC raised its holdings in Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 581,963 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,746 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC’s holdings in Franklin BSP Realty Trust were worth $7,298,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. GraniteShares Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the 4th quarter valued at $2,475,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,162,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,584,000 after purchasing an additional 136,687 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 3.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,359,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,059,000 after purchasing an additional 116,589 shares during the period. Condor Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 58.7% during the 4th quarter. Condor Capital Management now owns 302,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,789,000 after buying an additional 111,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 725,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,104,000 after buying an additional 104,599 shares during the period. 59.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of FBRT stock opened at $11.35 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.76. Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $10.50 and a 1 year high of $14.12. The company has a current ratio of 84.89, a quick ratio of 90.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42. The stock has a market cap of $948.95 million, a P/E ratio of 13.67 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.355 dividend. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FBRT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Jones Trading reissued a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, B. Riley raised Franklin BSP Realty Trust to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $15.50.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust 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).