Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE:APO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE:APO) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seventeen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $159.00.

APO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Apollo Global Management in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating and a $173.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Apollo Global Management from $191.00 to $138.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Apollo Global Management from $158.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Apollo Global Management from $145.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Apollo Global Management from $186.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Leon D. Black sold 500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.00, for a total transaction of $71,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,604,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,913,877,766. This represents a 1.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Lb 2018 Gst Trust acquired 607,725 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $111.39 per share, with a total value of $67,694,487.75. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 621,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,257,178.06. The trade was a 4,331.92% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 8.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of APO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Apollo Global Management by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,028,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,303,186,000 after acquiring an additional 893,428 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apollo Global Management by 64.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,413,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,550,316,000 after purchasing an additional 3,695,979 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Apollo Global Management by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,452,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,065,615,000 after purchasing an additional 1,739,807 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Apollo Global Management by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,382,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $723,853,000 after purchasing an additional 1,460,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Apollo Global Management by 24.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,581,732 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $490,482,000 after buying an additional 706,181 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.06% of the company’s stock.

Apollo Global Management Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of APO opened at $130.36 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Apollo Global Management has a 12-month low of $95.11 and a 12-month high of $189.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $130.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.67.

Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.84 by ($0.02). Apollo Global Management had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 17.53%. The company had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $977.14 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 21.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apollo Global Management will post 8 EPS for the current year.

Apollo Global Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This is a positive change from Apollo Global Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Apollo Global Management’s payout ratio is currently 35.73%.

About Apollo Global Management

Apollo Global Management, Inc is a private equity firm specializing in investments in credit, private equity, infrastructure, secondaries and real estate markets. The firm prefers to invest in private and public markets. The firm’s private equity investments include traditional buyouts, recapitalization, distressed buyouts and debt investments in real estate, corporate partner buyouts, distressed asset, corporate carve-outs, middle market, growth, venture capital, turnaround, bridge, corporate restructuring, special situation, acquisition, and industry consolidation transactions.