KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE: KREF – Get a rating) was the target of a sharp decline in short-term interest in March. As of March 15, there was short interest totaling 1,190,000 shares, down 58.0% from February 28’s total of 2,830,000 shares. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume of 552,300 shares, the short-term interest rate ratio is currently 2.2 days.
KREF has been the subject of several research reports. JMP Securities lowered its price target on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust shares from $23.50 to $23.00 and set a ‘market outperformance’ rating for the company in a Monday, March 21 research note . Zacks Investment Research cut shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a Monday, Feb. 7 research memo. Finally, Raymond James raised his price target on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust shares from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a Thursday, Feb. 10 research note. . One analyst rated the stock with a hold rating and four rated the company’s stock with a buy rating. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $22.70.
NYSE KREF traded at $0.42 during Friday trading hours, hitting $21.07. The company had a trading volume of 380,755 shares, compared to an average volume of 800,476. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $20.88 and a 200-day moving average of $21.25. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a 1 year minimum of $18.39 and a 1 year maximum of $23.42. The company has a current ratio of 465.17, a quick ratio of 465.17 and a debt ratio of 3.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 0.65.
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KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE: KREF – Get a rating) last released its quarterly results on Monday, February 7. The company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks consensus estimate of ($0.21) by $0.16. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust posted a net margin of 54.19% and a return on equity of 8.53%. In the same quarter last year, the company achieved EPS of $0.48. As a group, sell-side analysts expect KKR Real Estate Finance Trust to post 1.71 EPS for the current year.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 15. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 31 will receive a dividend of $0.43. This represents an annualized dividend of $1.72 and a dividend yield of 8.16%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 30. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust’s payout ratio is currently 78.18%.
Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KREF. City State Bank acquired a new stake in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the fourth quarter at a value of $40,000. Stephens Inc. AR acquired a new stake in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the fourth quarter at a value of $4,834,000. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust shares by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,263,394 shares of the company worth $151,296,000 after purchasing an additional 705,190 shares during the period. Comerica Bank increased its holdings of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust shares by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 37,881 shares of the company worth $811,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 45,100 shares of the company valued at $939,000 after acquiring 1,809 additional shares during the period. 76.88% of the shares are held by institutional investors and hedge funds.
KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Company Profile (Get a rating)
KKR Real Estate Finance Trust, Inc. is a real estate finance company, primarily focused on originating and acquiring senior loans secured by commercial real estate assets. Its target assets include mezzanine loans, preferred stocks and other debt-oriented instruments. The company’s investment objective is the preservation of capital and the generation of attractive risk-adjusted returns for its shareholders over the long term, primarily through dividends.
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