JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) Price Target to $8.00

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $9.50 to $8.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would indicate a potential downside of 4.25% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on ARI. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $10.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.33.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance stock opened at $8.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $9.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 51.19 and a quick ratio of 51.19. The firm has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of -8.79 and a beta of 1.41. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a 1 year low of $7.70 and a 1 year high of $11.20.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last announced 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 positive return on equity of 9.37% and a negative net margin of 39.40%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.63 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

In other news, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 11,000 shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.96, for a total transaction of $109,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,855.04. This trade represents a 53.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was 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 owns 385,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,855,420.72. This trade represents a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,236,601 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $131,949,000 after acquiring an additional 135,785 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance during the 4th quarter valued at $31,684,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 7.7% in 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 increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $15,116,000 after acquiring an additional 226,399 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 12.1% during the fourth 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.