Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE:ACRE) has been given a consensus rating of “Reduce” by the seven research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $5.25.

ACRE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Ares Commercial Real Estate from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Ares Commercial Real Estate from $5.50 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 17th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,024,000. North Ground Capital bought a new position in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the second quarter worth about $5,544,000. Cura Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the second quarter worth about $4,060,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 947.2% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 647,546 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,095,000 after buying an additional 585,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the second quarter worth approximately $2,685,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.34% of the company’s stock.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Stock Down 1.6%

NYSE:ACRE opened at $4.50 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $249.44 million, a P/E ratio of -56.20 and a beta of 1.16. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a twelve month low of $4.14 and a twelve month high of $5.89. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $4.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.81.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.96 million. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative net margin of 8.04% and a positive return on equity of 4.08%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.3%. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s dividend payout ratio is -750.00%.

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.