CTO Realty Growth, Inc. (NYSE:CTO) Short Interest Update

CTO Realty Growth, Inc. (NYSE:CTO) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,500,000 shares, a growth of 8.7% from the November 30th total of 1,380,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 433,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

CTO Realty Growth Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE CTO opened at $19.71 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.19. CTO Realty Growth has a one year low of $16.16 and a one year high of $21.15. The firm has a market cap of $590.83 million, a PE ratio of 33.41 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 3.96 and a quick ratio of 3.96.

CTO Realty Growth (NYSE:CTO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.27). The business had revenue of $31.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.15 million. CTO Realty Growth had a return on equity of 4.04% and a net margin of 17.10%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CTO Realty Growth will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CTO Realty Growth Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 12th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.71%. CTO Realty Growth’s payout ratio is 257.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CTO. Raymond James upgraded CTO Realty Growth from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $22.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of CTO Realty Growth from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CTO Realty Growth has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CTO Realty Growth news, CEO John P. Albright sold 29,488 shares of CTO Realty Growth stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.71, for a total transaction of $610,696.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 570,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,816,173.34. The trade was a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 5.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CTO Realty Growth

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CTO. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC raised its holdings in CTO Realty Growth by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC now owns 989,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,812,000 after purchasing an additional 205,383 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in CTO Realty Growth by 162.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 161,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,068,000 after acquiring an additional 99,943 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CTO Realty Growth in the 3rd quarter worth $1,794,000. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of CTO Realty Growth by 18.8% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 381,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,669,000 after purchasing an additional 60,480 shares during the period. Finally, Atom Investors LP bought a new stake in CTO Realty Growth in the third quarter valued at about $1,149,000. 67.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About CTO Realty Growth

CTO Realty Growth, Inc is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns and operates a portfolio of high-quality, retail-based properties located primarily in higher growth markets in the United States. CTO also externally manages and owns a meaningful interest in Alpine Income Property Trust, Inc (NYSE: PINE), a publicly traded net lease REIT.