KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.25 (NYSE:KREF)

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, September 13th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.02%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 77.5% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Equities analysts expect KKR Real Estate Finance Trust to earn $1.19 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 84.0%.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KREF opened at $12.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 392.62, a quick ratio of 392.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.86. The company has a market capitalization of $864.35 million, a PE ratio of -27.10 and a beta of 0.99. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a 12-month low of $8.71 and a 12-month high of $14.12. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.33.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The company reported ($1.57) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($1.87). The company had revenue of $47.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.47 million. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust had a net margin of 5.88% and a return on equity of 9.88%. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust’s revenue was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.48 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on KREF. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $11.50 price target on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in a report on Friday, July 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $11.50 to $13.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Raymond James lifted their price objective 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $10.00 to $9.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.14.

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.