Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) Raised to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.75 to $11.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.00.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Performance

NYSE:ARI traded up $0.12 on Monday, hitting $11.12. The stock had a trading volume of 91,882 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,415,459. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.89 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 96.78, a current ratio of 96.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.27. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a 52-week low of $9.02 and a 52-week high of $11.24.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.26. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a return on equity of 7.94% and a net margin of 46.66%.The business had revenue of $73.25 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $46.97 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARI. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 43.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,016 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 6,358 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,328 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 14.5% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,093 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,166 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,146,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 50.4% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,291,072 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,498,000 after acquiring an additional 432,377 shares in the last quarter. 54.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Company Profile

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.