Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Raises Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) Price Target to $10.50

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI - Free Report) had its price target increased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $10.00 to $10.50 in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the real estate investment trust's stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on ARI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. BTIG Research raised shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $11.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $9.88.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE ARI traded up $0.07 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $9.49. The company had a trading volume of 788,318 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,114,204. The company's fifty day moving average is $9.31 and its 200-day moving average is $9.18. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a one year low of $7.70 and a one 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. The company has a market cap of $1.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.99 and a beta of 1.41.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.07. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a negative net margin of 39.40% and a positive return on equity of 9.37%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is presently -3,333.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company's stock, valued at $3,855,420.72. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark C. Biderman sold 10,000 shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.48, for a total transaction 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 73,074 shares of company stock valued at $724,579. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 0.9% during 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. bought a new position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,684,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,263,378 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $19,601,000 after acquiring an additional 162,089 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,745,469 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $15,116,000 after acquiring an additional 226,399 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,063,511 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $9,210,000 after purchasing an additional 115,109 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.43% 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.