Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) Receives $5.33 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $5.3333.

ACRE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. UBS Group raised their target price on Ares Commercial Real Estate from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $4.75 to $5.50 in a research note on Monday, December 15th.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of ACRE stock opened at $4.94 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $4.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.77. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a 52 week low of $3.35 and a 52 week high of $6.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $271.57 million, a PE ratio of -32.90 and a beta of 1.27.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.17. The company had revenue of $5.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.35 million. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative net margin of 13.02% and a negative return on equity of 5.15%. Analysts anticipate that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post -0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -400.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Commercial Real Estate

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. North Ground Capital purchased a new position in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the third quarter valued at $5,222,000. Alpine Global Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,679,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,685,000. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 32.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 234,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the 1st quarter worth approximately $554,000. 41.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Ares Commercial Real Estate

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.