Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (ARI) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.25 on April 15th

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 11th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has raised its dividend by an average of 1.3% per year over the last three years. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a payout ratio of 86.2% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ARI opened at $9.66 on Friday. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a fifty-two week low of $8.44 and a fifty-two week high of $11.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $9.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.27. The company has a quick ratio of 51.19, a current ratio of 51.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.16 and a beta of 1.74.

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 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 9,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 the SEC website. Also, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,855,420.72. This trade represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.00 to $8.75 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.08.

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.