It is usually uneventful when a single insider buys stock. However, When quite a few insiders buy shares, as it happened in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc.'s (NYSE:KREF) case, it's fantastic news for shareholders.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

View our latest analysis for KKR Real Estate Finance Trust

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by CEO & Director Matthew Salem for US$268k worth of shares, at about US$10.70 per share. Although we like to see insider buying, we note that this large purchase was at significantly below the recent price of US$13.39. While it does suggest insiders consider the stock undervalued at lower prices, this transaction doesn't tell us much about what they think of current prices.

While KKR Real Estate Finance Trust insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that KKR Real Estate Finance Trust insiders own 1.5% of the company, worth about US$13m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Do The KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Insider Transactions Indicate?

The fact that there have been no KKR Real Estate Finance Trust insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. Overall we don't see anything to make us think KKR Real Estate Finance Trust insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. To help with this, we've discovered 2 warning signs (1 can't be ignored!) that you ought to be aware of before buying any shares in KKR Real Estate Finance Trust.

Of course KKR Real Estate Finance Trust may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.