North Ground Capital Takes $5.54 Billion Position in Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation $ACRE

North Ground Capital bought a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 1,232,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $5,544,000,000. Ares Commercial Real Estate makes up 6.7% of North Ground Capital’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Ares Commercial Real Estate in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,024,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,110,321 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,028,000 after acquiring an additional 74,453 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,315,902 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,935,000 after acquiring an additional 37,062 shares during the period. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,060,000. Finally, Alpine Global Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC now owns 759,110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,629,000 after purchasing an additional 165,193 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ACRE shares. UBS Group assumed 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. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a report on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $5.50 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $5.25.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:ACRE opened at $4.78 on Monday. Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation has a 52 week low of $4.14 and a 52 week high of $5.89. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $4.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.87. The company has a market cap of $265.19 million, a P/E ratio of -59.75 and a beta of 1.15.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.96 million. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a positive return on equity of 4.08% and a negative net margin of 8.04%. Analysts expect that Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation will post 0.39 EPS for the current year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.6%. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s payout ratio is -750.00%.

Ares Commercial Real Estate 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.