Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) Upgraded by UBS Group to “Hold” Rating

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) was upgraded by stock analysts at UBS Group to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective 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 restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Commercial Real Estate presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $5.38.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Stock Performance

NYSE ACRE opened at $4.92 on Tuesday. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a 52-week low of $4.05 and a 52-week high of $5.89. The company has a market capitalization of $272.68 million, a P/E ratio of -13.65 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a fifty day moving average of $4.98 and a 200-day moving average of $5.04.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $13.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.64 million. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative return on equity of 2.80% and a negative net margin of 37.21%. As a group, analysts forecast that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post 0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Ares Commercial Real Estate

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 27,950 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 2,284 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 9.0% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 41,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $185,000 after purchasing an additional 3,371 shares in the last quarter. HRT Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. HRT Financial LP now owns 16,790 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 4,445 shares in the last quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 232,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,145,000 after purchasing an additional 4,936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 456.0% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,033 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 4,948 shares in the last quarter. 41.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Company Profile

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.