Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by ($0.08), FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $13.22 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.38 million. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative net margin of 13.02% and a negative return on equity of 5.15%.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Stock Down 1.7%

NYSE ACRE opened at $5.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $281.20 million, a PE ratio of -34.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.26. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a 12-month low of $3.35 and a 12-month high of $6.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $5.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.81.

Insider Transactions at Ares Commercial Real Estate

In other news, CFO Jeffrey Michael Gonzales sold 6,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.93, for a total transaction of $30,654.74. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 88,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,467.69. This trade represents a 6.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Bryan Patrick Donohoe sold 21,761 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.93, for a total transaction of $107,281.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 250,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,471.21. This represents a 8.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 35,585 shares of company stock worth $175,434 in the last 90 days. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate in the 1st quarter worth approximately $129,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in the first quarter valued at approximately $166,000. Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in the first quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 6.5% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 83,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 5,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate during the 2nd quarter worth $187,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACRE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on 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 Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $4.75 to $5.50 in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.33.

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.