CTO Realty Growth, Inc. (NYSE:CTO) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

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

Insider Transactions at CTO Realty Growth

In related news, CEO John P. Albright sold 29,488 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 570,554 shares in the company, valued at $11,816,173.34. This represents a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CTO Realty Growth

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC raised its position in CTO Realty Growth by 26.2% in the third quarter. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC now owns 989,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,812,000 after acquiring an additional 205,383 shares in the last quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC grew its stake in shares of CTO Realty Growth by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 397,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of CTO Realty Growth by 18.8% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in CTO Realty Growth by 0.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 299,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,228,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in CTO Realty Growth by 9.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 209,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,972,000 after purchasing an additional 18,743 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on CTO. Raymond James upgraded shares of CTO Realty Growth from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock 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 research note on Monday, October 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $21.00.

CTO Realty Growth Price Performance

CTO traded up $0.08 on Wednesday, reaching $19.71. The company had a trading volume of 368,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 278,513. The company has a market capitalization of $590.83 million, a P/E ratio of 33.41 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 3.96, a quick ratio of 3.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The company has a fifty day moving average of $19.88 and a 200-day moving average of $19.19. CTO Realty Growth has a one year low of $16.16 and a one year high of $21.15.

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

CTO Realty Growth Dividend Announcement

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

CTO Realty Growth Company Profile

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.