Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Has Lowered Expectations for KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) Stock Price

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) had its target price cut by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $7.00 to $6.50 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target points to a potential upside of 7.00% from the company’s current price.

KREF has been the subject of a number of other reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from $8.00 to $7.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial raised KKR Real Estate Finance Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $9.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market perform” rating on shares of KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.83.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Trading Down 4.6%

Shares of KREF stock traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $6.08. The stock had a trading volume of 287,272 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,174,628. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $7.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $355.86 million, a PE ratio of -1.85 and a beta of 0.88. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust has a 12 month low of $5.25 and a 12 month high of $9.10.

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE:KREF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported ($0.58) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.56) by ($0.02). KKR Real Estate Finance Trust had a negative return on equity of 1.53% and a negative net margin of 47.33%.The firm had revenue of $29.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.97 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust will post 0.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KKR Real Estate Finance Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,349,000. Conversant Capital LLC purchased a new stake in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the 1st quarter valued at about $9,000,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 517,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,537,000 after acquiring an additional 49,353 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,744,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,602,000. 70.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About KKR Real Estate Finance Trust

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc (NYSE: KREF) is a real estate investment trust that originates, acquires and manages commercial real estate loans. The company primarily focuses on senior mortgage loans secured by institutional-quality properties, with an emphasis on transitional assets that may require renovation, leasing or other improvements.

KREF’s loan portfolio is generally backed by commercial properties across major U.S. markets. The underlying properties may include multifamily, office, hotel, industrial, life science, student housing and other commercial real estate assets.