Marshall Wace LLP Purchases Shares of 110,434 Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI)

Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 110,434 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $956,000. Marshall Wace LLP owned approximately 0.08% of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 65.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 329,462 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,028,000 after purchasing an additional 130,892 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 130.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 480,852 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,164,000 after buying an additional 271,908 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance during the 4th quarter valued at $578,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $131,949,000 after acquiring an additional 135,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. grew its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 168.7% in the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 73,992 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $641,000 after acquiring an additional 46,458 shares in the last quarter. 54.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. BTIG Research raised Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $11.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com cut Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $9.88.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE ARI traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $9.40. The stock had a trading volume of 67,592 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,137,583. The company has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.89 and a beta of 1.49. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.70 and a 52 week high of $11.20. The company has a quick ratio of 51.19, a current ratio of 51.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The business's 50 day moving average is $9.30 and its 200-day moving average is $9.19.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. will post 0.63 EPS for the current year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.64%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance's dividend payout ratio is presently -3,333.33%.

Insider Activity at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

In related news, Director Mark C. Biderman sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.48, for a total transaction of $94,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 60,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $576,260.76. This represents a 14.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance 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 sale, the chief executive officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 73,074 shares of company stock worth $724,579. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company's stock.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance 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.