Insider Selling: Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) CEO Sells $107,281.73 in Stock

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) CEO Bryan Patrick Donohoe sold 21,761 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.93, for a total value of $107,281.73. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 250,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,471.21. This represents a 8.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Stock Performance

Shares of ACRE stock opened at $5.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $281.48 million, a P/E ratio of -34.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.26. Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $3.35 and a fifty-two week high of $6.09. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $5.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.77.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.17. The company had revenue of $5.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.35 million. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative return on equity of 5.15% and a negative net margin of 13.02%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation will post -0.34 EPS for the current year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.7%. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s payout ratio is presently -400.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Commercial Real Estate

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ACRE. North Ground Capital bought a new position in Ares Commercial Real Estate in the 3rd quarter worth about $5,222,000. Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,679,000. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Ares Commercial Real Estate in the second quarter worth about $2,685,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 24.4% in the third quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 564,209 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,545,000 after buying an additional 110,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 302.4% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 122,425 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $552,000 after buying an additional 92,002 shares during the last quarter. 41.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACRE has been the topic of several research reports. Zacks Research raised Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $4.75 to $5.50 in a report on Monday, December 15th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Commercial Real Estate currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.33.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Company Profile

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE: ACRE) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) primarily focused on commercial real estate debt investments. Externally managed by an affiliate of Ares Management Corporation, ACRE seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns through its diversified portfolio of CRE financing strategies. The company specializes in originating, acquiring, financing and managing first mortgages, mezzanine loans, preferred equity and other structured finance products.

Since its inception, Ares Commercial Real Estate has targeted a broad range of property types, including multifamily, office, industrial, retail and hospitality assets.