Cetera Investment Advisers Decreases Stock Holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI)

Cetera Investment Advisers lowered its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) by 4.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 53,935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,282 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance were worth $516,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 51.0% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 118,656 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,028,000 after buying an additional 40,088 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 130.1% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 480,852 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,164,000 after buying an additional 271,908 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $649,000 after buying an additional 6,787 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 10.1% during 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 period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 265.3% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 232,627 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,015,000 after buying an additional 168,948 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ARI shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.50 to $10.75 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.31.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of ARI stock opened at $10.05 on Friday. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a 12 month low of $7.70 and a 12 month high of $10.61. The stock has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -71.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a current ratio of 98.25, a quick ratio of 98.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.61.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.0%. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s dividend payout ratio is -714.29%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.83, for a total transaction of $511,887.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 333,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,281,784.82. This represents a 13.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.