Short Interest in Lument Finance Trust, Inc. (NYSE:LFT) Expands By 76.6%

Lument Finance Trust, Inc. (NYSE:LFT) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 112,500 shares, a growth of 76.6% from the December 15th total of 63,700 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 113,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lument Finance Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LFT. Barclays PLC bought a new position in Lument Finance Trust during the 3rd quarter worth $120,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA acquired a new stake in shares of Lument Finance Trust in the third quarter valued at about $85,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lument Finance Trust during the second quarter worth about $55,000. Sei Investments Co. acquired a new position in shares of Lument Finance Trust in the second quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in Lument Finance Trust in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.45% of the company’s stock.

Lument Finance Trust Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of LFT opened at $2.61 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 1.07. Lument Finance Trust has a 52 week low of $2.16 and a 52 week high of $2.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.39, a quick ratio of 6.29 and a current ratio of 6.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $2.59 and a 200-day moving average of $2.54.

Lument Finance Trust (NYSE:LFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The technology company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.01. Lument Finance Trust had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 18.19%. The company had revenue of $28.93 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lument Finance Trust will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lument Finance Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Lument Finance Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 88.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Raymond James lowered shares of Lument Finance Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th.

About Lument Finance Trust

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.