Brokerages Set Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) PT at $5.33

Shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the six analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $5.3333.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $4.75 to $5.50 in a research report on Monday, December 15th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. 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.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Trading Down 0.9%

Ares Commercial Real Estate stock opened at $5.05 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $277.63 million, a P/E ratio of -33.63 and a beta of 1.27. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a twelve month low of $3.35 and a twelve month high of $6.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.77.

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

Ares Commercial Real Estate Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.9%. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s payout ratio is presently -400.00%.

Institutional Trading of Ares Commercial Real Estate

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 41,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $185,000 after buying an additional 3,371 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 94.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,997 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 3,396 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 24,105 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 4,309 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 456.0% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,033 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 4,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 6.5% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 83,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 5,107 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.34% of the company’s stock.

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.