KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the six research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $11.88.

KREF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $12.00 target price on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and set a $10.75 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $11.50 to $9.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 1.5% in the first quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 80,386 shares of the company's stock valued at $868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,199 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 31,711 shares of the company's stock valued at $320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,842 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 15.4% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 14,980 shares of the company's stock valued at $162,000 after acquiring an additional 2,002 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 41,975 shares of the company's stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 2,051 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 175,092 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,768,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Price Performance

Shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust stock traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $9.24. 1,446,591 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 525,491. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.77, a current ratio of 413.32 and a quick ratio of 413.32. The firm has a market cap of $626.23 million, a P/E ratio of 57.72 and a beta of 0.92. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a 52 week low of $8.28 and a 52 week high of $12.95. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.10.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.32). The firm had revenue of $31.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.77 million. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 6.42%. Research analysts forecast that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.83%. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.