Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $9.09, but opened at $9.44. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance shares last traded at $9.14, with a volume of 209,102 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ARI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $10.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.50.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Trading Up 1.2 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.69 and a beta of 1.41. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.16. 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 (NYSE:ARI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.07. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a positive return on equity of 9.37% and a negative net margin of 39.40%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s payout ratio is -3,333.33%.

Insider Transactions at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

In related news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total transaction of $520,219.26. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,855,420.72. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was 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 directly owns 9,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,855.04. This represents a 53.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ARI. PFG Investments LLC lifted its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 50,764 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $486,000 after acquiring an additional 1,235 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 11.1% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 67,816 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $649,000 after purchasing an additional 6,787 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 10.1% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 43,815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 4,023 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 117,847 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,128,000 after buying an additional 3,208 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 1,088.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,790 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,023,000 after buying an additional 8,966 shares during the last quarter. 54.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Company Profile

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.