Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) CFO Jeffrey Michael Gonzales Sells 6,218 Shares

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) CFO Jeffrey Michael Gonzales sold 6,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.93, for a total transaction of $30,654.74. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 88,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $436,467.69. This represents a 6.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Trading Up 2.4%

NYSE:ACRE traded up $0.12 on Thursday, hitting $5.09. 675,426 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 575,640. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $5.04 and a 200-day moving average of $4.77. The stock has a market cap of $280.10 million, a PE ratio of -33.93, a PEG ratio of 0.50 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.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.17. The business had revenue of $5.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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, analysts predict that Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -400.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Institutional Trading of Ares Commercial Real Estate

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACRE. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 456.0% in 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. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 94.3% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,997 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 3,396 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the third quarter worth about $38,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 100.3% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 10,367 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 5,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Ares Commercial Real Estate in the first quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Institutional investors 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.