Dark Forest Capital Management LP Makes New Investment in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 29,768 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $301,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in KREF. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 311.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 99,319 shares of the company's stock worth $1,226,000 after acquiring an additional 75,200 shares in the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 84,718 shares of the company's stock valued at $877,000 after buying an additional 13,432 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 175,092 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,768,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 283,897 shares of the company's stock worth $2,867,000 after acquiring an additional 8,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the fourth quarter valued at $159,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on KREF. JMP Securities cut their target price on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $11.50 to $9.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and set a $10.75 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, April 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $11.88.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Price Performance

Shares of KREF stock traded up $0.13 on Friday, hitting $9.23. 465,848 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 502,454. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.50, a current ratio of 296.16 and a quick ratio of 296.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.74. The firm has a market cap of $625.85 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.28 and a beta of 0.88. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.28 and a 52 week high of $12.95.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.32). KKR Real Estate Finance Trust had a net margin of 6.30% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The company had revenue of $31.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $34.77 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.83%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust's payout ratio is 625.00%.

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.