Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases New Shares in Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 41,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $555,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 58,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $790,000 after buying an additional 5,215 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the 4th quarter valued at $616,000. Realta Investment Advisors increased its stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 18,614 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 3,010 shares during the period. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 31,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $429,000 after buying an additional 1,184 shares during the period. Finally, Strong Tower Advisory Services increased its stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 639,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,645,000 after buying an additional 31,706 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on FBRT. BTIG Research dropped their price objective on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. JMP Securities raised shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Jonestrading lowered their price target on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $15.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 12th.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:FBRT opened at $12.74 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 83.74, a current ratio of 83.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.15. Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.73 and a fifty-two week high of $14.70. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.06.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a $0.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.15%. Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 100.71%.

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).