Jernigan Capital Inc., a merchant bank and advisory firm serving the self-storage industry, has declared a second-quarter dividend of $0.35 per share, payable on July 15 to stockholders of record on July 6. The dividend represents an annual distribution rate of 7 percent, based on the company’s initial public offering price of $20 per share.

An ex-dividend date was set as June 29, according to a source. Jernigan Capital moved its date of record for the dividend back to July 6 after initially announcing it as July 1.

“We are off to a good start in deploying the capital we raised in the IPO, with several loans already closed and a robust pipeline with loans in various stages of completion,” said Dean Jernigan, CEO. “Our strong start has positioned us to commence the payment of a regular quarterly dividend for the first quarter after our IPO.”

The company’s IPO closed in April after offering 5 million shares. The firm expects to close on nine loans worth $48.8 million by the end of June, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Six of those loans are earmarked for self-storage developments. The company also has nine signed term sheets worth $81.3 million in development loans and another 11 outstanding term sheets worth nearly $98 million in development financing, according to the filing.

Jernigan Capital has drawn the interest of analysts at several financial companies, who recently assigned its stock an “outperform” rating and assigned a target share price of up to $26. Sam J. Jenkins, director at Jernigan Capital, recently purchased 2,000 shares on the open market at an average cost of $21.15 per share, according to a source.

Headquartered in Miami, Jernigan Capital provides loans in markets across the United States. Its senior staff has participated in more than $6 billion of self-storage transactions over the past 30 years. The company intends to be taxed as a real estate investment trust and is externally managed by JCap Advisors LLC, according to a press release.

Sources: