Anton Feingold Sells 7,606 Shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) Stock

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) VP Anton Feingold sold 7,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.93, for a total transaction of $37,497.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 92,754 shares in the company, valued at $457,277.22. The trade was a 7.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Stock Performance

Ares Commercial Real Estate stock opened at $5.12 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.77. Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation has a 1 year low of $3.35 and a 1 year high of $6.09. The company has a market capitalization of $281.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.26.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.08 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $5.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.35 million. Equities analysts expect that Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation will post -0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.7%. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s dividend payout ratio is presently -400.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACRE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. 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 research note on Friday, November 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $4.75 to $5.50 in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a report on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.33.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Commercial Real Estate

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the 1st quarter worth about $129,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate during the 1st quarter worth about $166,000. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the first quarter worth approximately $47,000. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 21.8% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 24,105 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 4,309 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 51.7% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 24,424 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 8,323 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.