Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) Receives $5.33 Consensus PT from Analysts

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the six brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $5.3333.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ACRE shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Zacks Research upgraded Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $4.75 to $5.50 in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Price Performance

ACRE opened at $4.88 on Tuesday. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a 1 year low of $3.35 and a 1 year high of $6.09. The company has a market capitalization of $268.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $5.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.77.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $5.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.35 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post -0.34 EPS for the current year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 31st. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s payout ratio is presently -400.00%.

Insider Transactions at Ares Commercial Real Estate

In related news, CEO Bryan Patrick Donohoe sold 21,761 shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.93, for a total value of $107,281.73. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 250,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,233,471.21. The trade was a 8.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeffrey Michael Gonzales sold 6,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 88,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,467.69. The trade was a 6.56% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 35,585 shares of company stock worth $175,434 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate in the 4th quarter worth about $425,000. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 4.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 376,815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,699,000 after purchasing an additional 14,586 shares in the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Alpine Global Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,679,000. Institutional investors own 41.34% of the company’s stock.

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.