KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) Short Interest Down 11.5% in January

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KKR Real Estate Finance Trust

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KREF. Azora Capital LP bought a new position in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the third quarter worth about $20,167,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,373,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,878,000 after buying an additional 18,535 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,045,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,562,000 after buying an additional 95,540 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 116.5% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 844,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,531,000 after buying an additional 454,517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 728,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,362,000 after acquiring an additional 175,603 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $14.00 to $13.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $11.50 to $10.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $13.00 to $12.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $12.46.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Stock Performance

KREF stock traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $11.38. The company 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 cap of $781.58 million, a PE ratio of 63.19 and a beta of 1.00. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a 12 month low of $8.71 and a 12 month high of $12.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $10.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.31.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.20. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust had a net margin of 6.30% and a return on equity of 8.53%. On average, analysts forecast that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.79%. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust’s payout ratio is 555.56%.

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.