Analysts Set Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) Target Price at $5.33

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $5.3333.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Bryan Patrick Donohoe sold 21,761 shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.93, for a total value of $107,281.73. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 250,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,471.21. The trade was a 8.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeffrey Michael Gonzales sold 6,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 88,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $436,467.69. This trade represents a 6.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 35,585 shares of company stock valued at $175,434 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Commercial Real Estate

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ACRE. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 456.0% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,033 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 4,948 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 94.3% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,997 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 3,396 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 100.3% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 10,367 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 5,192 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate in the 1st quarter worth $47,000. 41.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Price Performance

Shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate stock opened at $4.86 on Tuesday. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a 1 year low of $3.35 and a 1 year high of $6.09. The firm has a market cap of $267.17 million, a PE ratio of -32.36, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.78.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.35 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post -0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 31st. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -400.00%.

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.