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

Lument Finance Trust, Inc. (NYSE:LFT) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 1,858,438 shares, a growth 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 currently 8.5 days.

Institutional Trading of Lument Finance Trust

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LFT. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. bought a new stake in Lument Finance Trust in the 1st quarter valued at $66,000. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in Lument Finance Trust by 117.0% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 124,754 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 67,254 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Lument Finance Trust by 132.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,058,721 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,340,000 after purchasing an additional 604,205 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Lument Finance Trust by 55,468.7% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 37,231 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 37,164 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a new stake in Lument Finance Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at $98,000. 19.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on LFT. Wall Street Zen raised Lument Finance Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Lument Finance Trust in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Sell”.

Lument Finance Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LFT traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $1.32. 67,824 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 181,959. The company has a quick ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.11. Lument Finance Trust has a 12 month low of $1.18 and a 12 month high of $2.71. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $1.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.91 million, a PE ratio of -9.39 and a beta of 0.67.

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

Lument Finance Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.04 per share. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. Lument Finance Trust’s payout ratio is currently -114.29%.

About Lument Finance Trust

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.