KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, September 16th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.96%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a payout ratio of 77.5% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Analysts expect KKR Real Estate Finance Trust to earn $1.19 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 84.0%.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of KREF traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $12.57. The stock had a trading volume of 281,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 542,474. The company has a market cap of $871.48 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.30 and a beta of 0.99. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a 1-year low of $8.71 and a 1-year high of $14.12. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.86, a current ratio of 392.62 and a quick ratio of 392.62.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The company reported ($1.57) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($1.87). The firm had revenue of $47.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.47 million. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 5.88%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on KREF shares. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $12.00 price target on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $11.50 to $13.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $11.50 target price on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in a report on Friday, July 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.71.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Company Profile

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc, a mortgage real estate investment trust, focuses primarily on originating and acquiring transitional senior loans secured by commercial real estate (CRE) assets. It engages in the origination and purchase of credit investments related to CRE, including leveraged and unleveraged commercial real estate loans.