KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) Short Interest Update

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Creative Planning lifted its position in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 37.0% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 21,524 shares of the company's stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 5,809 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 24.6% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 12,885 shares of the company's stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546 shares during the last quarter. GFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 9,591.3% in the 3rd quarter. GFS Advisors LLC now owns 290,740 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,591,000 after purchasing an additional 287,740 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 27.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 455,291 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,372,000 after purchasing an additional 98,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,201,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $11.50 to $10.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $13.00 to $12.25 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, KKR Real Estate Finance Trust currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $12.46.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Stock Performance

Shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust stock traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $11.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 400,540 shares, compared to its average volume of 450,966. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $10.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.50, a quick ratio of 296.16 and a current ratio of 296.16. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a one year low of $8.71 and a one year high of $12.95. The stock has a market cap of $755.47 million, a P/E ratio of 61.08 and a beta of 1.00.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (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%. As a group, analysts expect that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.10%. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust's payout ratio is currently 555.56%.

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.