Wall Street Zen Downgrades Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) to Sell

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on ACRE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $5.50 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research raised shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on Ares Commercial Real Estate in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $5.50 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Commercial Real Estate has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $5.25.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Stock Performance

Shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate stock opened at $4.25 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $4.64 and a 200-day moving average of $4.90. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a 52-week low of $4.05 and a 52-week high of $5.89. The stock has a market cap of $235.74 million, a PE ratio of -11.80 and a beta of 1.15.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $13.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.63 million. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative net margin of 37.21% and a negative return on equity of 2.80%. Equities research analysts predict that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ACRE. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 27,950 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 2,284 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 9.0% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 41,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $185,000 after purchasing an additional 3,371 shares during the period. HRT Financial LP increased its holdings in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. HRT Financial LP now owns 16,790 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 4,445 shares during the period. Evoke Wealth LLC raised its position in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 232,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,145,000 after purchasing an additional 4,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 456.0% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,033 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 4,948 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.34% of the company’s stock.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Company Profile

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE: ACRE) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) primarily focused on commercial real estate debt investments. Externally managed by an affiliate of Ares Management Corporation, ACRE seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns through its diversified portfolio of CRE financing strategies. The company specializes in originating, acquiring, financing and managing first mortgages, mezzanine loans, preferred equity and other structured finance products.

Since its inception, Ares Commercial Real Estate has targeted a broad range of property types, including multifamily, office, industrial, retail and hospitality assets.