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 sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Ares Commercial Real Estate in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $5.50 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $5.25.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of NYSE ACRE opened at $4.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $256.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -57.88 and a beta of 1.15. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a 12 month low of $4.14 and a 12 month high of $5.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $4.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.88.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.96 million. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative net margin of 8.04% and a positive return on equity of 4.08%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -750.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ACRE. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 27,950 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 2,284 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 9.0% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 41,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $185,000 after purchasing an additional 3,371 shares in the last quarter. HRT Financial LP increased its holdings in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. HRT Financial LP now owns 16,790 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 4,445 shares in the last quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 232,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,145,000 after buying an additional 4,936 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 456.0% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,033 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 4,948 shares during the period. 41.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.