Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) Given New $3.50 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo cut its Ares Commercial Real Estate price target from $5.00 to $3.50 and maintained an “underweight” rating, implying 4.24% downside from the prior close.
• Analyst views remain mixed, but MarketBeat reports a consensus “Reduce” rating and an average price target of $4.62; ratings include one Buy, four Holds, and two Sells.
• Ares beat quarterly estimates, reporting EPS of $0.12 versus $0.04 expected and revenue of $13.51 million versus $12.87 million estimated.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE - Get Free Report) had its price target cut by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $5.00 to $3.50 in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "underweight" rating on the real estate investment trust's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target would suggest a potential downside of 4.24% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Ares Commercial Real Estate from $5.50 to $5.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Ares Commercial Real Estate from $5.50 to $4.50 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Commercial Real Estate has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $4.62.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Price Performance

Shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate stock opened at $3.65 on Monday. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a one year low of $3.16 and a one year high of $5.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $202.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 182.84 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.63.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.08. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a return on equity of 4.36% and a net margin of 1.76%. The business had revenue of $13.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.87 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post 0.39 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ACRE. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate during the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,024,000. North Ground Capital bought a new stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the second quarter worth about $5,544,000. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,060,000. Ardent Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 37.5% during the third quarter. Ardent Capital Management Inc. now owns 299,905 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,152,000 after acquiring an additional 81,816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Almitas Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ares Commercial Real Estate in the second quarter worth about $814,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.34% of the company's stock.

About Ares Commercial Real Estate

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation is a specialty finance company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT). The company originates and invests in commercial real estate loans, with a primary focus on senior mortgage loans secured by properties in the United States.

Its investment portfolio may include loans backed by multifamily, office, industrial, retail, hotel and other commercial properties. Ares Commercial Real Estate generally targets transitional and other commercial real estate assets that require financing for acquisition, redevelopment, renovation or repositioning.

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