Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) CEO Stuart Rothstein Sells 52,072 Shares of Stock

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,072 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.16, for a total value of $529,051.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 229,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,333,843.44. This represents a 18.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARI opened at $9.91 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $10.00 and a 200 day moving average of $10.07. The company has a current ratio of 90.32, a quick ratio of 90.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.54. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a 12 month low of $7.70 and a 12 month high of $11.11.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $63.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.15 million. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a net margin of 51.40% and a return on equity of 8.34%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.1%. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.36%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the second quarter worth about $271,921,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 89.8% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,855,116 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $17,753,000 after acquiring an additional 877,675 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,813,000. No Street GP LP boosted its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 33.3% during the third quarter. No Street GP LP now owns 3,000,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,390,000 after purchasing an additional 750,000 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the second quarter worth approximately $5,323,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ARI. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in a research report on Monday, December 8th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.75 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.88.

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.