Advisors Preferred LLC Acquires Shares of 33,135 Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. $FBRT

Advisors Preferred LLC acquired a new stake in Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:FBRT) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 33,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $359,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FBRT. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Franklin BSP Realty Trust in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,542,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 24.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 714,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,103,000 after purchasing an additional 139,417 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 51.6% in the 1st quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 280,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,572,000 after purchasing an additional 95,450 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 11.0% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 890,249 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,342,000 after purchasing an additional 88,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,244,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,858,000 after purchasing an additional 81,783 shares in the last quarter. 59.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Price Performance

FBRT opened at $10.10 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $830.57 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 1.03. Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.79 and a fifty-two week high of $13.58. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $11.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.01. The company has a quick ratio of 81.24, a current ratio of 81.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.355 per share. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 177.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FBRT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jones Trading cut their target price on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Franklin BSP Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.67.

Franklin BSP Realty Trust Company 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).