Prudential Financial Inc. Reduces Holdings in Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT)

Prudential Financial Inc. decreased its position in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT - Free Report) by 56.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 83,599 shares of the company's stock after selling 106,700 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.10% of Franklin BSP Realty Trust worth $1,048,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 42.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 787 shares during the period. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. Longboard Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $174,000. Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the 3rd quarter worth about $189,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $194,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.87% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Trading Down 0.2 %

FBRT traded down $0.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $10.81. 783,310 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 368,944. Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $10.51 and a 1 year high of $14.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $12.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.82. The firm has a market cap of $903.95 million, a P/E ratio of 13.02 and a beta of 1.14. 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 announced its quarterly 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. Franklin BSP Realty Trust had a net margin of 45.56% and a return on equity of 8.17%. The firm had revenue of $55.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $49.28 million. As a group, analysts expect that Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.355 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.14%. Franklin BSP Realty Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 171.08%.

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).