JMP Securities Reiterates "Market Perform" Rating for Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI)

JMP Securities reissued their market perform rating on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI - Free Report) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on ARI. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. BTIG Research raised Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $11.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. StockNews.com lowered Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $9.88.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Performance

NYSE:ARI traded up $0.07 on Tuesday, hitting $9.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 788,318 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,114,204. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a one year low of $7.70 and a one year high of $11.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.99 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.18. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts predict that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.54%. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance's dividend payout ratio is currently -3,333.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

In other news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total transaction of $520,219.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,855,420.72. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 11,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 9,624 shares in the company, valued at $95,855.04. This represents a 53.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 73,074 shares of company stock valued at $724,579. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ARI. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 65.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 329,462 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,028,000 after buying an additional 130,892 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 114,639 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $993,000 after purchasing an additional 10,447 shares during the period. Diversify Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the fourth quarter valued at $129,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance during the 4th quarter worth $93,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 3.0% during the 4th 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 during the period. 54.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.