Matthew Salem Purchases 32,000 Shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) Stock

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) CEO Matthew Salem acquired 32,000 shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $7.84 per share, with a total value of $250,880.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 561,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,404,708. The trade was a 6.04% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KREF opened at $8.27 on Wednesday. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a 52 week low of $7.78 and a 52 week high of $11.98. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $8.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.09. The company has a quick ratio of 423.43, a current ratio of 423.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63. The firm has a market cap of $541.60 million, a P/E ratio of -23.63 and a beta of 0.90.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $31.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.90 million. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust had a negative return on equity of 0.60% and a negative net margin of 0.12%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently -285.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KREF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $9.00 target price (down from $9.50) on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in a report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $9.50 to $8.75 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.94.

Institutional Trading of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 368.5% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 536,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,701,000 after purchasing an additional 421,657 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 92.2% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 841,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,380,000 after buying an additional 403,660 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,241,000. Rhino Investment Partners Inc lifted its position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 207.7% in the first quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc now owns 296,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,204,000 after acquiring an additional 200,244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 148.3% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 312,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,741,000 after acquiring an additional 186,687 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

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.