Legal & General Group Plc Invests $1.35 Million in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance $ARI

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 126,142 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,347,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARI. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 43.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,016 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $201,000 after acquiring an additional 6,358 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 8.9% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,328 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 14.5% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,093 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,166 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,146,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 50.4% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,291,072 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,498,000 after purchasing an additional 432,377 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. BTIG Research lowered shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Zacks Research cut shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.33.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ARI opened at $6.89 on Monday. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a fifty-two week low of $6.43 and a fifty-two week high of $11.24. The company has a market cap of $885.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 1.36. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $7.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.71.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 10th. The real estate investment trust reported ($2.62) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $44.38 million for the quarter. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a net margin of 55.49% and a return on equity of 7.39%. Sell-side analysts predict that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $3.75 per share. This represents a $15.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 217.7%. This is an increase from Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 125.00%.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Profile

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc (NYSE: ARI) is a real estate finance company structured as a real estate investment trust (REIT). The company focuses on originating, acquiring and managing a diversified portfolio of commercial real estate debt and preferred equity investments. As an externally managed vehicle, ARI leverages the expertise and resources of an affiliate of Apollo Global Management, a leading global alternative investment manager.

ARI’s investment strategy is centered on providing first mortgage loans, mezzanine debt financing, bridge loans and preferred equity across a broad range of property types, including office, retail, industrial and multifamily assets.