JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF - Free Report) by 31.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 728,875 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 175,603 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 1.06% of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust worth $7,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 420.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 116,113 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,434,000 after acquiring an additional 93,813 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 311.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 99,319 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,226,000 after purchasing an additional 75,200 shares during the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 84,718 shares of the company's stock worth $877,000 after purchasing an additional 13,432 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 175,092 shares of the company's stock worth $1,768,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 283,897 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,867,000 after buying an additional 8,873 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KREF has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and set a $10.75 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $11.50 to $9.50 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $12.04.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KREF traded up $0.37 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $9.28. 374,022 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 499,365. The company has a quick ratio of 296.16, a current ratio of 296.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.50. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.86. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.28 and a 52-week high of $12.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $637.32 million, a PE ratio of 51.53 and a beta of 0.88.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF - Get Free Report) last posted its 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.78%. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust's payout ratio is 555.56%.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust 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.