KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) Short Interest Up 15.0% in March

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,230,000 shares, an increase of 15.0% from the March 15th total of 1,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 615,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KKR Real Estate Finance Trust news, COO W Patrick Mattson acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $9.72 per share, for a total transaction of $97,200.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 308,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,998,095.12. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other KKR Real Estate Finance Trust news, COO W Patrick Mattson acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $9.72 per share, for a total transaction of $97,200.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 308,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,998,095.12. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthew A. Salem bought 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $9.72 per share, for a total transaction of $252,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 460,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,474,203.48. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KREF. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 438,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,032,000 after acquiring an additional 16,216 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC acquired a new position in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the 1st quarter worth approximately $443,000. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 12,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 61.6% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 19,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 7,449 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 116,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,394,000 after purchasing an additional 4,252 shares during the period. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KREF has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $11.50 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. JMP Securities dropped their target price on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $14.50 to $13.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $12.00 to $10.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.33.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:KREF traded down $0.09 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $9.51. 496,333 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 600,635. The stock has a market cap of $659.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.19 and a beta of 0.96. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a fifty-two week low of $9.09 and a fifty-two week high of $14.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $9.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.35. The company has a current ratio of 361.76, a quick ratio of 361.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.32.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -128.21%.

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.