Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $10.8750.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ARI shares. Zacks Research lowered Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.75 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in a report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,073 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.78, for a total transaction of $561,346.94. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 281,781 shares in the company, valued at $3,037,599.18. This represents a 15.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ARI. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 1,047.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 2,871 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 55.6% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,059 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,451 shares during the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 94.1% in the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,909 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 2,864 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of ARI stock opened at $10.04 on Wednesday. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a 52-week low of $7.70 and a 52-week high of $11.11. The stock has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 90.32 and a current ratio of 90.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $10.00 and a 200-day moving average of $10.06.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $63.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.15 million. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a net margin of 51.40% and a return on equity of 8.34%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.0%. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s payout ratio is 112.36%.

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.