Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) Upgraded to “Outperform” at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) was upgraded by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report released on Monday,Finviz reports. The brokerage presently has a $10.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price suggests a potential upside of 14.56% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.50.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Performance

NYSE:ARI opened at $8.73 on Monday. 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 50-day moving average of $9.67 and a 200-day moving average of $9.25. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a twelve month low of $8.44 and a twelve month high of $11.20. The firm has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.19 and a beta of 1.41.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Analysts forecast that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

In other news, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.96, for a total value of $109,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,855.04. This represents a 53.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,928 shares in the company, valued at $3,855,420.72. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,684,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,360,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake 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 valued at $4,164,000 after buying an additional 271,908 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,745,469 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,116,000 after buying an additional 226,399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,586,000. 54.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

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.