KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $12.50.

KREF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $11.50 price objective on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in a research note on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $11.50 to $12.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James upped their price objective on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $11.50 to $13.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Trading Down 3.1 %

NYSE:KREF opened at $11.67 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $808.89 million, a P/E ratio of -25.37 and a beta of 0.99. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a twelve month low of $8.71 and a twelve month high of $14.12. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $11.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.54. The company has a quick ratio of 392.62, a current ratio of 392.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.86.

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

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.57%. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently -217.39%.

Institutional Trading of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KREF. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,148,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,617,000 after acquiring an additional 178,603 shares during the period. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the first quarter worth approximately $40,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 17.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,846 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 2,481 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 272,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,736,000 after purchasing an additional 36,299 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 346,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,484,000 after buying an additional 42,730 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

About KKR Real Estate Finance Trust

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.