StockNews.com Upgrades Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) to "Buy"

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $10.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $9.00.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Up 2.0 %

NYSE ARI traded up $0.17 on Tuesday, reaching $8.34. The stock had a trading volume of 1,013,222 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,091,154. 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 has a 1 year low of $7.70 and a 1 year high of $11.20. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $9.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.77 and a beta of 1.41.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 -105.26%.

Insider Transactions at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

In other Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was 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 $3,855,420.72. This trade represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 11,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.96, for a total value of $109,560.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $95,855.04. This trade represents a 53.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ARI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 period. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,684,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,263,378 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $19,601,000 after buying an additional 162,089 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,745,469 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $15,116,000 after buying an additional 226,399 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,063,511 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $9,210,000 after buying an additional 115,109 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.43% of the company's stock.

About Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

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.