KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 275,024 shares of the company’s stock after selling 63,110 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.40% of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust worth $3,397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KREF. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in the 1st quarter worth approximately $438,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 44.1% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 72,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $733,000 after purchasing an additional 22,312 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the 1st quarter worth approximately $54,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 17.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,846 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 2,481 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $138,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on KREF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $11.50 to $12.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. JMP Securities increased their target price on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James decreased their target price on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $14.00 to $13.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $11.50 to $13.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.83.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of KREF stock opened at $11.60 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $807.01 million, a PE ratio of -38.67 and a beta of 0.99. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.71 and a 1-year high of $14.12. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $11.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.85.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.03. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust had a return on equity of 9.46% and a net margin of 0.40%. The company had revenue of $140.15 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.52 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently -333.32%.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Company 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.