Analysts Set Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) Target Price at $5.25

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) has received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $5.25.

Several analysts recently weighed in on ACRE shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Ares Commercial Real Estate from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Zacks Research raised shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $5.50 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACRE opened at $4.56 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $252.99 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -57.00 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $4.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.82. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a fifty-two week low of $4.14 and a fifty-two week high of $5.89.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.96 million. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative net margin of 8.04% and a positive return on equity of 4.08%. As a group, research analysts predict that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.2%. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s payout ratio is presently -750.00%.

Institutional Trading of Ares Commercial Real Estate

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate during the second quarter worth $21,024,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 2.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,110,321 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,028,000 after purchasing an additional 74,453 shares during the last quarter. North Ground Capital increased its stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 34.0% in the 4th quarter. North Ground Capital now owns 1,551,806 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,418,000 after buying an additional 393,943 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,315,902 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,935,000 after buying an additional 37,062 shares during the period. Finally, Cura Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,060,000. Hedge funds and other 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.