KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) Price Target Increased to $12.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) had its target price hoisted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $11.50 to $12.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on KREF. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $11.50 target price on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $11.50 to $13.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.50.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Price Performance

NYSE KREF opened at $12.04 on Thursday. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a one year low of $8.71 and a one year high of $14.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $11.89 and a 200 day moving average of $10.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.86, a quick ratio of 392.62 and a current ratio of 392.62. The company has a market capitalization of $834.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.17 and a beta of 0.99.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The company reported ($1.57) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($1.87). KKR Real Estate Finance Trust had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 5.88%. The company had revenue of $47.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust will post 1.35 EPS for the current year.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -217.39%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KKR Real Estate Finance Trust

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 38,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 935 shares during the period. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 17.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after acquiring an additional 2,481 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in the first quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Creative Planning grew its position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 37.0% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 21,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 5,809 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.