883,751 Shares in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance $ARI Acquired by Empyrean Capital Partners LP

Empyrean Capital Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 883,751 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $9,332,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 388.7% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,255 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 2,589 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,037 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 61.7% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,656 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance during the 3rd quarter worth $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on ARI. Zacks Research raised shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. BTIG Research cut shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $11.50 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 4,574 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.93, for a total transaction of $49,993.82. Following the transaction, the director owned 24,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $271,053.07. This represents a 15.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Price Performance

Shares of ARI opened at $6.71 on Tuesday. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a twelve month low of $6.65 and a twelve month high of $11.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $10.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $876.75 million, a PE ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 81.81, a quick ratio of 81.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $58.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $77.85 million. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 48.01%. Research analysts anticipate that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a $3.75 dividend. This is an increase from Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $15.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 223.7%. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s payout ratio is 123.46%.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Profile

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc (NYSE: ARI) is a real estate finance company structured as a real estate investment trust (REIT). The company focuses on originating, acquiring and managing a diversified portfolio of commercial real estate debt and preferred equity investments. As an externally managed vehicle, ARI leverages the expertise and resources of an affiliate of Apollo Global Management, a leading global alternative investment manager.

ARI’s investment strategy is centered on providing first mortgage loans, mezzanine debt financing, bridge loans and preferred equity across a broad range of property types, including office, retail, industrial and multifamily assets.