Short Interest in CTO Realty Growth, Inc. (NYSE:CTO) Expands By 8.7%

CTO Realty Growth, Inc. (NYSE:CTO) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of 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 daily volume of 433,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at CTO Realty Growth

In other news, CEO John P. Albright sold 29,488 shares of CTO Realty Growth stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 570,554 shares in the company, 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 is accessible through this link. Insiders own 5.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CTO Realty Growth

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CTO. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in CTO Realty Growth by 145.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 88,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,531,000 after buying an additional 52,500 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of CTO Realty Growth by 162.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 161,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,068,000 after purchasing an additional 99,943 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. acquired a new position in shares of CTO Realty Growth during the second quarter valued at $900,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of CTO Realty Growth during the third quarter valued at about $404,000. Finally, Atom Investors LP bought a new position in CTO Realty Growth in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,149,000. Institutional investors own 67.18% of the company’s stock.

CTO Realty Growth Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of CTO opened at $19.71 on Thursday. The stock 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 has a 12 month low of $16.16 and a 12 month high of $21.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $19.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.19.

CTO Realty Growth (NYSE:CTO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $31.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.15 million. CTO Realty Growth had a net margin of 17.10% and a return on equity of 4.04%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.48 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that CTO Realty Growth will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CTO Realty Growth Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CTO shares. Raymond James upgraded CTO Realty Growth from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CTO Realty Growth from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CTO Realty Growth presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $21.00.

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.