Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) Rating Increased to Hold at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

ACRE has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $6.00 to $5.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $5.38.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate stock opened at $4.92 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $272.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.65 and a beta of 1.14. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a 1-year low of $4.05 and a 1-year high of $5.89. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $4.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.04.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.08 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $13.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.64 million. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative return on equity of 2.80% and a negative net margin of 37.21%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post 0.4 EPS for the current year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s dividend payout ratio is -166.67%.

Institutional Trading of Ares Commercial Real Estate

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 2.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,110,321 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,028,000 after purchasing an additional 74,453 shares during the last quarter. North Ground Capital boosted its stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 34.0% in the fourth quarter. North Ground Capital now owns 1,551,806 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,418,000 after acquiring an additional 393,943 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 2.9% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,315,902 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,935,000 after acquiring an additional 37,062 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC boosted its stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC now owns 759,110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,629,000 after acquiring an additional 165,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 947.2% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 647,546 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,095,000 after acquiring an additional 585,711 shares during the last quarter. 41.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.