Insider Selling: Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) CEO Sells 52,072 Shares of Stock

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,072 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.16, for a total transaction of $529,051.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 229,709 shares in the company, valued at $2,333,843.44. This trade represents a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Trading Down 2.7%

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance stock traded down $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $9.91. The company had a trading volume of 956,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,042,745. The stock has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 90.32, a quick ratio of 90.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a 1-year low of $7.70 and a 1-year high of $11.11. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.07.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.02. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a return on equity of 8.34% and a net margin of 51.40%.The company had revenue of $63.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.15 million. As a group, analysts expect that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.36%.

Institutional Trading of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,326,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $22,265,000 after buying an additional 63,191 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the 1st quarter valued at about $251,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the first quarter worth about $7,813,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance during the first quarter worth approximately $345,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 28.0% during the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 405,208 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,878,000 after purchasing an additional 88,532 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ARI shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.75 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.88.

About Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that originates, acquires, invests in, and manages commercial first mortgage loans, subordinate financings, and other commercial real estate-related debt investments in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe.