Lument Finance Trust, Inc. (NYSE:LFT) Short Interest Up 31.1% in March

Key Points

• Short interest jumped 31.1% in March, rising to 1,858,438 shares (about 3.6% of the stock) and yielding an 8.5 days-to-cover ratio, signaling increased bearish positioning.
• Q1 results missed sharply—Lument reported EPS of ($0.24) versus a $0.06 consensus and revenue well below estimates, highlighting near-term operational weakness for the small-cap REIT (market cap ~$68.9M).
• The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.04 (annualized yield ~12.2%) but has a negative payout ratio (-114.29%), while institutional ownership is 19.45% with notable increases from firms like Russell, State Street and Goldman Sachs; analysts’ average rating remains a Sell.

Lument Finance Trust, Inc. (NYSE:LFT - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 1,858,438 shares, an increase of 31.1% from the March 15th total of 1,417,587 shares. Currently, 3.6% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 219,024 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.5 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Lument Finance Trust by 302.0% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 32,987 shares of the technology company's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 24,782 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Lument Finance Trust by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 454,684 shares of the technology company's stock worth $659,000 after purchasing an additional 18,122 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of Lument Finance Trust by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 51,170 shares of the technology company's stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 16,179 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lument Finance Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $139,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Lument Finance Trust by 71.3% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 112,804 shares of the technology company's stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 46,936 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.45% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Lument Finance Trust in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Lument Finance Trust from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lument Finance Trust has an average rating of "Sell".

Lument Finance Trust Stock Up 1.9%

Lument Finance Trust stock traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $1.32. The stock had a trading volume of 67,824 shares, compared to its average volume of 181,959. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $1.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1.47. Lument Finance Trust has a 1-year low of $1.18 and a 1-year high of $2.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.91 million, a P/E ratio of -9.39 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.11, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 3.03.

Lument Finance Trust (NYSE:LFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 23rd. The technology company reported ($0.24) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.30). Lument Finance Trust had a negative net margin of 3.47% and a positive return on equity of 7.21%. The firm had revenue of ($3.92) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.78 million. As a group, analysts expect that Lument Finance Trust will post 0.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lument Finance Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a $0.04 dividend. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. Lument Finance Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -114.29%.

Lument Finance Trust Company Profile

Lument Finance Trust is a real estate investment trust that focuses on originating and acquiring senior secured loans backed by commercial real estate properties. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker LFT, the company seeks to generate attractive risk‐adjusted returns by targeting floating‐rate, first‐mortgage loans across a broad range of property types, including multifamily, office, retail, industrial and hospitality.

The firm's core business activity centers on deploying capital into short‐ and medium‐term financing solutions for institutional real estate owners and developers.

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