Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 66,746 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $578,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 46,143 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 1,364 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 278,588 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,413,000 after acquiring an additional 2,164 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 25,746 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 2,204 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 327.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,045 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 2,332 shares during the period. Finally, AM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 111,498 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $966,000 after purchasing an additional 3,081 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARI has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. BTIG Research raised Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $11.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $9.88.

Insider Transactions at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

In other Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total value of $520,219.26. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 385,928 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,855,420.72. The trade was a 11.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mark C. Biderman sold 10,000 shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.48, for a total value of $94,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 60,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $576,260.76. This trade represents a 14.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 73,074 shares of company stock worth $724,579 over the last three months. 0.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Performance

Shares of ARI traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $9.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 223,212 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,131,954. The stock has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.45 and a beta of 1.49. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.22. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.70 and a 1-year high of $11.20. The company has a current ratio of 51.19, a quick ratio of 51.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.07%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance's payout ratio is currently -3,333.33%.

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.