Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

ACRE has been the topic of several other research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Ares Commercial Real Estate to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $4.50 to $4.75 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $5.08.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Price Performance

Shares of ACRE opened at $4.86 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $267.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.31 and a beta of 1.34. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a 1-year low of $3.35 and a 1-year high of $7.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $4.67 and a 200 day moving average of $4.67.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.17. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative net margin of 29.57% and a negative return on equity of 5.44%. The business had revenue of $5.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.35 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post -0.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s dividend payout ratio is presently -400.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate in the first quarter valued at approximately $554,000. Delphi Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate during the 1st quarter valued at $995,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 124,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $575,000 after purchasing an additional 3,250 shares in the last quarter. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 32.1% during the 1st quarter. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 963,485 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,461,000 after buying an additional 234,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 34,472 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $160,000 after buying an additional 5,267 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.34% of the company’s stock.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Company Profile

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation, a specialty finance company, originates and invests in commercial real estate (CRE) loans and related investments in the United States. It provides a range of financing solutions for the owners, operators, and sponsors of CRE properties. The company originates senior mortgage loans, subordinate debt and preferred equity products, mezzanine loans, and other CRE investments, including commercial mortgage-backed securities.