Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) CFO Jeffrey Michael Gonzales Sells 6,218 Shares

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) CFO Jeffrey Michael Gonzales sold 6,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.93, for a total value of $30,654.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 88,533 shares in the company, valued at $436,467.69. This trade represents a 6.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of NYSE:ACRE traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $5.09. 675,426 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 575,640. The stock has a market cap of $280.10 million, a P/E ratio of -33.93, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.26. Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation has a twelve month low of $3.35 and a twelve month high of $6.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $5.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.77.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.17. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative net margin of 13.02% and a negative return on equity of 5.15%. The firm had revenue of $5.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.35 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation will post -0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -400.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Commercial Real Estate

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. North Ground Capital purchased a new position in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the third quarter worth about $5,222,000. Alpine Global Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,679,000. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,685,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 24.4% in the third quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 564,209 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,545,000 after acquiring an additional 110,505 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 302.4% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 122,425 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 92,002 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ACRE. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research upgraded Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 15th. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $4.75 to $5.50 in a research note on Monday, December 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.33.

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.