Analysts Set Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) Price Target at $15.30

Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Buy" by the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $15.30.

FBRT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Jones Trading cut their price target on Franklin BSP Realty Trust from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. B. Riley raised Franklin BSP Realty Trust to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a report on Wednesday, March 12th.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Price Performance

FBRT stock traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $11.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 516,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 376,636. The company has a quick ratio of 90.45, a current ratio of 84.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42. Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a 12 month low of $10.50 and a 12 month high of $14.12. The company has a 50 day moving average of $12.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $957.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.355 per share. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Franklin BSP Realty Trust's dividend payout ratio is currently 208.82%.

Institutional Trading of Franklin BSP Realty Trust

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 22.0% in 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 period. Strong Tower Advisory Services raised its position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 1,157,111 shares of the company's stock worth $14,510,000 after purchasing an additional 101,951 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 19,728 shares of the company's stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402 shares during the last quarter. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 49.8% during the fourth quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,692 shares of the company's stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 7,216 shares during the period. 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).