Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Sunday.

ACRE has been the topic of a number of other reports. Zacks Research upgraded Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $5.50 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a report on Thursday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $5.25.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Stock Up 0.1%

ACRE stock opened at $4.26 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $236.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.85 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.90. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a 52 week low of $4.05 and a 52 week high of $5.89.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last issued its earnings results 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). Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative return on equity of 2.80% and a negative net margin of 37.21%.The firm had revenue of $13.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.63 million. As a group, analysts expect that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -166.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Commercial Real Estate

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACRE. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 worth $14,028,000 after acquiring an additional 74,453 shares during the last quarter. North Ground Capital boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 393,943 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 37,062 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC grew its stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 27.8% during the 4th quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC now owns 759,110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,629,000 after purchasing an additional 165,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 947.2% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 647,546 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,095,000 after purchasing an additional 585,711 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.