KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) Announces $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 12th,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 95.2% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Analysts expect KKR Real Estate Finance Trust to earn $1.19 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 84.0%.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of KREF stock opened at $11.50 on Friday. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a one year low of $8.71 and a one year high of $14.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.75, a current ratio of 277.63 and a quick ratio of 277.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $11.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.05. The stock has a market cap of $799.71 million, a P/E ratio of -38.32 and a beta of 0.98.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $140.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.52 million. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust had a net margin of 0.40% and a return on equity of 9.46%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. Analysts predict that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on KREF shares. JMP Securities upped their price objective on 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $11.50 to $13.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $14.00 to $13.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $12.00 to $11.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, KKR Real Estate Finance Trust currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $12.75.

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.