KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) saw a significant decline in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,150,000 shares, a decline of 11.5% from the January 15th total of 1,300,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 480,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James lowered 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 note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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 report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $13.00 to $12.25 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price target on 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, KKR Real Estate Finance Trust presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $12.46.

Institutional Trading of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KREF. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the 4th quarter valued at $96,000. Caxton Associates LP purchased a new position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in the fourth quarter valued at about $110,000. Abel Hall LLC bought a new position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the third quarter valued at about $138,000. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $119,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in the fourth quarter worth about $129,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:KREF traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $11.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 290,968 shares, compared to its average volume of 458,147. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.50, a quick ratio of 277.63 and a current ratio of 296.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $781.58 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.19 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.31. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a 1 year low of $8.71 and a 1 year high of $12.95.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.20. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 6.30%. Research analysts expect that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust will post 1.05 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 Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.79%. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust’s payout ratio is currently 555.56%.

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.