North Ground Capital Invests $5.22 Million in Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation $ACRE

North Ground Capital bought a new stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,157,863 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $5,222,000. Ares Commercial Real Estate comprises approximately 3.2% of North Ground Capital’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. North Ground Capital owned 2.10% of Ares Commercial Real Estate at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 21.8% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 24,105 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 4,309 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 44.5% in the 2nd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 226,919 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after acquiring an additional 69,881 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 51.7% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 24,424 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 8,323 shares during the period. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $409,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 10.8% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 82,402 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 8,048 shares during the period. 41.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Commercial Real Estate

In related news, VP Anton Feingold sold 7,606 shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.93, for a total value of $37,497.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 92,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $457,277.22. The trade was a 7.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jeffrey Michael Gonzales sold 6,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 35,585 shares of company stock worth $175,434. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on ACRE shares. Zacks Research raised Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $4.75 to $5.50 in a report on Monday, December 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.33.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Stock Performance

ACRE opened at $5.12 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $281.48 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.10, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.77. Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation has a twelve month low of $3.35 and a twelve month high of $6.09.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $5.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.35 million. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative net margin of 13.02% and a negative return on equity of 5.15%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation will post -0.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -400.00%.

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.