Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. (NYSE:ACRE) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. (NYSE:ACRE) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 7th,Zacks Dividends reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st.

Ares Commercial Real Estate has a dividend payout ratio of 172.4% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Ares Commercial Real Estate to earn ($0.34) per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of -294.1%.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Price Performance

ACRE traded up $0.21 on Friday, reaching $7.36. 279,970 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 576,004. The stock has a market cap of $401.27 million, a PE ratio of -8.16 and a beta of 1.46. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a twelve month low of $6.25 and a twelve month high of $11.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $6.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. BTIG Research restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $7.50 to $7.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $7.00 to $6.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Commercial Real Estate currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.10.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Company Profile

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation, a specialty finance company, originates and invests in commercial real estate (CRE) loans and related investments in the United States. It provides a range of financing solutions for the owners, operators, and sponsors of CRE properties. The company originates senior mortgage loans, subordinate debt and preferred equity products, mezzanine loans, and other CRE investments, including commercial mortgage-backed securities.