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

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,690,000 shares, a growth of 10.5% from the June 30th total of 1,530,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 502,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $11.50 target price on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $9.75 to $11.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.50.

Institutional Trading of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 35,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $470,000 after acquiring an additional 1,571 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of 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. Autumn Glory Partners LLC raised its holdings in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 13,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 21,842.9% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 3,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Triumph Capital Management boosted its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 18.5% during the first quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 20,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,000 after buying an additional 3,138 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KREF traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $11.49. The company had a trading volume of 719,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 557,513. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a twelve month low of $8.71 and a twelve month high of $14.12. The stock has a market cap of $796.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.96 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.86, a current ratio of 392.62 and a quick ratio of 392.62. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.04.

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

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.70%. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -217.39%.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Company Profile

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.