Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on ARI. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $10.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.50.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE ARI opened at $8.36 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 51.19, a current ratio of 51.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a 52 week low of $7.70 and a 52 week high of $11.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $9.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.17. The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.79 and a beta of 1.41.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.07. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a negative net margin of 39.40% and a positive return on equity of 9.37%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s dividend payout ratio is presently -105.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total transaction of $520,219.26. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,855,420.72. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.96, for a total value of $109,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,624 shares in the company, valued at $95,855.04. This represents a 53.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC increased its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 41,119 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 1,118 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 57.9% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,425 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 46,143 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,364 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 44,663 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,906 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 278,588 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,413,000 after acquiring an additional 2,164 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

About Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that originates, acquires, invests in, and manages commercial first mortgage loans, subordinate financings, and other commercial real estate-related debt investments in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe.