KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) have earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $12.46.

KREF has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $14.00 to $13.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $11.50 to $10.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $13.00 to $12.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th.

Institutional Trading of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in KREF. Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 84,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $877,000 after acquiring an additional 13,432 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 311.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 99,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,226,000 after purchasing an additional 75,200 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC acquired a new position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $138,000. Zacks Investment Management bought a new stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,792,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 420.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 116,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,434,000 after buying an additional 93,813 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Stock Performance

KREF stock opened at $10.32 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $717.75 million, a PE ratio of -34.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.75, a current ratio of 277.63 and a quick ratio of 277.63. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $10.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.27. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a fifty-two week low of $8.71 and a fifty-two week high of $13.19.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $140.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.52 million. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust had a return on equity of 9.46% and a net margin of 0.40%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.69%. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust’s dividend payout ratio is -333.32%.

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.