Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) Upgraded at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $10.50 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous price target of $10.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.75 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.75.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Trading Up 1.3%

ARI opened at $10.31 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 98.25 and a quick ratio of 98.25. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a fifty-two week low of $7.70 and a fifty-two week high of $11.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of -73.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.60. The company’s 50-day moving average is $10.36 and its 200 day moving average is $9.83.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.02). Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a positive return on equity of 8.42% and a negative net margin of 1.49%.The business had revenue of $43.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.40 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s dividend payout ratio is currently -714.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,073 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.78, for a total value of $561,346.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 281,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,037,599.18. This trade represents a 15.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the 2nd quarter valued at $271,921,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,326,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,265,000 after purchasing an additional 63,191 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,951,609 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $18,892,000 after purchasing an additional 96,493 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 50.4% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,291,072 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,498,000 after buying an additional 432,377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,036,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,921,000 after buying an additional 13,774 shares in the last quarter. 54.43% of the stock is 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.