Dark Forest Capital Management LP Takes $831,000 Position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 66,246 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $831,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.08% of Franklin BSP Realty Trust at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 22.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 136,534 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 24,633 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,939,515 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,335,000 after buying an additional 9,428 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 174.5% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 39,545 shares of the company's stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 25,139 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 787 shares during the period. Finally, Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 1,157,111 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,510,000 after buying an additional 101,951 shares during the last quarter. 59.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust stock traded down $0.28 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $11.31. The stock had a trading volume of 233,334 shares, compared to its average volume of 375,390. The firm has a market cap of $945.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.62 and a beta of 1.14. Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.50 and a 12 month high of $14.12. The business's 50-day moving average is $12.41 and its 200 day moving average is $12.70. The company has a current ratio of 84.89, a quick ratio of 90.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust (NYSE:FBRT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $55.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.28 million. Franklin BSP Realty Trust had a return on equity of 8.17% and a net margin of 45.56%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.355 dividend. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Franklin BSP Realty Trust's payout ratio is 171.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a report on Tuesday. Jones Trading dropped their price target 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 Tuesday. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, B. Riley upgraded Franklin BSP Realty Trust to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $15.30.

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).