Lument Finance Trust, Inc. (NYSE:LFT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Lument Finance Trust, Inc. (NYSE:LFT) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 57,500 shares, a growth of 18.1% from the March 15th total of 48,700 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 107,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lument Finance Trust

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millennium Management LLC bought a new position in Lument Finance Trust in the fourth quarter worth approximately $160,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Lument Finance Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in Lument Finance Trust in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $148,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lument Finance Trust during the 4th quarter valued at $87,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Lument Finance Trust by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 85,750 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $221,000 after acquiring an additional 5,991 shares during the period. 19.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jones Trading restated a “hold” rating on shares of Lument Finance Trust in a report on Tuesday, April 1st.

Lument Finance Trust Stock Down 1.1 %

LFT traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $2.60. 126,080 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 108,082. The company has a quick ratio of 6.29, a current ratio of 6.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.39. Lument Finance Trust has a 1-year low of $2.22 and a 1-year high of $2.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $2.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.60. The stock has a market cap of $136.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.22 and a beta of 0.83.

Lument Finance Trust (NYSE:LFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The technology company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.10. Lument Finance Trust had a net margin of 18.19% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The business had revenue of $9.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.89 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Lument Finance Trust will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lument Finance Trust Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Lument Finance Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 91.43%.

Lument Finance Trust Company Profile

Lument Finance Trust, Inc, a real estate investment trust, focuses on investing in, financing, and managing a portfolio of commercial real estate (CRE) debt investments in the United States. The company primarily invests in transitional floating rate CRE mortgage loans on middle market multi-family assets; and other CRE -related investments, including mezzanine loans, preferred equity, commercial mortgage-backed securities, fixed rate loans, construction loans, and other CRE debt instruments.