JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) Price Target to $8.00

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) had its price target reduced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $9.50 to $8.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on ARI. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $10.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.00.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Price Performance

Shares of ARI opened at $8.34 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $9.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.16. The company has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.77 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 51.19, a current ratio of 51.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a twelve month low of $7.70 and a twelve month high of $11.20.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.07. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a positive return on equity of 9.37% and a negative net margin of 39.40%. As a group, analysts predict that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s dividend payout ratio is currently -105.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance news, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.96, for a total transaction of $109,560.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,855.04. This represents a 53.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total value of $520,219.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 385,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,855,420.72. This trade represents a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 139.4% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 302,388 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,779,000 after purchasing an additional 176,101 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 65.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 329,462 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,028,000 after acquiring an additional 130,892 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $578,000. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 168.7% in the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 73,992 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $641,000 after acquiring an additional 46,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,236,601 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $131,949,000 after purchasing an additional 135,785 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Company Profile

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.