Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance $ARI

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) by 174.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 128,801 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 81,862 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance were worth $1,247,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ARI. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 94.8% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 99,940 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $967,000 after buying an additional 48,644 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 211,459 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,074,000 after acquiring an additional 39,651 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 60.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 111.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 689,903 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,989,000 after acquiring an additional 364,098 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Triumph Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 8.7% in the third quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 59,535 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $603,000 after acquiring an additional 4,761 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ARI. Wall Street Zen lowered Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.75 to $11.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.00.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Up 1.1%

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance stock opened at $10.65 on Friday. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a 12 month low of $7.70 and a 12 month high of $11.20. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.23. The company has a current ratio of 96.78, a quick ratio of 96.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31 and a beta of 1.46.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a return on equity of 7.94% and a net margin of 46.66%.The firm had revenue of $73.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $46.97 million. Equities analysts predict that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 125.00%.

About Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

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.