Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,099,403 shares of the company’s stock after selling 98,274 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.12% of Franklin BSP Realty Trust worth $114,107,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 42.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 787 shares during the period. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Longboard Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the 4th quarter valued at $174,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the 4th quarter worth $194,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 7.6% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 19,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 1,381 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.87% of the company’s stock.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust stock opened at $11.08 on Wednesday. Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.01 and a 1-year high of $14.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 84.89 and a quick ratio of 90.45. The stock has a market cap of $911.27 million, a P/E ratio of 13.35 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.88.

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

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.355 per share. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.81%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on FBRT. B. Riley upgraded shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $16.00 price objective on the stock. Jones Trading reissued a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $15.50.

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).