58,200 Shares in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance $ARI Bought by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 58,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $615,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,298,362 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $52,588,000 after buying an additional 56,377 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,167,013 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,662,000 after acquiring an additional 9,273 shares during the period. No Street GP LP boosted its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. No Street GP LP now owns 3,000,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,390,000 after acquiring an additional 750,000 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,085,917 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $21,130,000 after acquiring an additional 134,308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 50.4% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,291,072 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,498,000 after purchasing an additional 432,377 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

In other Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance news, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 4,574 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.93, for a total transaction of $49,993.82. Following the sale, the director directly owned 24,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $271,053.07. The trade was a 15.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on ARI. Zacks Research raised shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. BTIG Research lowered Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $11.50 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.12.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ARI opened at $10.22 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $10.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.59. The firm has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a PE ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 81.81, a quick ratio of 81.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a 1-year low of $9.49 and a 1-year high of $11.24.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $58.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.85 million. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a net margin of 48.01% and a return on equity of 7.87%. Research analysts predict that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a $3.75 dividend. This represents a $15.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 146.7%. This is an increase from Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 123.46%.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance 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.