Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance $ARI Shares Sold by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has reduced its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 28.5% in Q1, now owning approximately 0.31% of the company valued at $4.15 million.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for ARI, with UBS and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods setting new targets of $10.50 and $10.75 respectively, with a prevailing consensus target price of $10.31.
• Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25, which translates to an annual yield of 9.5%.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI - Free Report) by 28.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 433,410 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 172,773 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 0.31% of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance worth $4,148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ARI. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 89.8% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,855,116 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $17,753,000 after buying an additional 877,675 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the first quarter valued at approximately $7,813,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 265.3% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 232,627 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,015,000 after buying an additional 168,948 shares in the last quarter. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 23.0% in the first quarter. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 847,300 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $8,109,000 after buying an additional 158,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 666,730 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $5,774,000 after buying an additional 139,643 shares in the last quarter. 54.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Zacks Research cut Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.50 to $10.75 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. 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, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $10.31.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Price Performance

Shares of ARI traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $10.56. 1,770,737 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 781,112. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 98.25 and a current ratio of 98.25. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a 12-month low of $7.70 and a 12-month high of $11.11. The company has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -75.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.57. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $10.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.77.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.5%. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance's payout ratio is -714.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,073 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.78, for a total transaction of $561,346.94. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 281,781 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,037,599.18. The trade was a 15.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.68% 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.