Insider Selling: Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI) CEO Sells 52,074 Shares of Stock

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI) CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total value of $520,219.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 385,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,855,420.72. This trade represents a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:ARI traded down $0.02 on Wednesday, hitting $9.96. 1,240,634 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 996,498. The stock has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of -10.48 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a current ratio of 51.19, a quick ratio of 51.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.48 and a 200-day moving average of $9.29. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.44 and a fifty-two week high of $11.64.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.07. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a positive return on equity of 9.37% and a negative net margin of 39.40%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.05%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s dividend payout ratio is currently -105.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.00 to $8.75 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.08.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AlphaCore Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 41,119 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,118 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 46,143 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,364 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 44,663 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,906 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 278,588 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,413,000 after purchasing an additional 2,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 25,746 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 2,204 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

About Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that originates, acquires, invests in, and manages commercial first mortgage loans, subordinate financings, and other commercial real estate-related debt investments in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe.