Van ECK Associates Corp Reduces Holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance $ARI

Van ECK Associates Corp lowered its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) by 12.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,086,119 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 150,529 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.85% of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance worth $11,600,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the second quarter valued at $127,411,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,298,362 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $52,588,000 after purchasing an additional 56,377 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,167,013 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,662,000 after purchasing an additional 9,273 shares during the last quarter. No Street GP LP grew its holdings 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 worth $30,390,000 after buying an additional 750,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 6.9% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,085,917 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $21,130,000 after buying an additional 134,308 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Price Performance

Shares of ARI stock opened at $6.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $886.93 million, a P/E ratio of 8.62 and a beta of 1.36. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a 1-year low of $6.43 and a 1-year high of $11.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.81.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The real estate investment trust reported ($2.62) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a net margin of 55.49% and a return on equity of 7.39%. The company had revenue of $44.38 million during the quarter. Analysts expect that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $3.75 per share. This is a boost from Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $15.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 217.4%. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s payout ratio is currently 125.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Zacks Research cut shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Bank of America initiated coverage on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $11.50 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.33.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Profile

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc (NYSE: ARI) is a real estate finance company structured as a real estate investment trust (REIT). The company focuses on originating, acquiring and managing a diversified portfolio of commercial real estate debt and preferred equity investments. As an externally managed vehicle, ARI leverages the expertise and resources of an affiliate of Apollo Global Management, a leading global alternative investment manager.

ARI’s investment strategy is centered on providing first mortgage loans, mezzanine debt financing, bridge loans and preferred equity across a broad range of property types, including office, retail, industrial and multifamily assets.