Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI) Stock Holdings Cut by Sei Investments Co.

Sei Investments Co. cut its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI) by 49.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 30,798 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 29,676 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance were worth $267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,263,378 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $19,601,000 after buying an additional 162,089 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,063,511 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,210,000 after acquiring an additional 115,109 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,022,941 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,859,000 after acquiring an additional 56,284 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 617,114 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,344,000 after purchasing an additional 16,040 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 552,586 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 84,251 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Trading Down 4.0 %

NYSE ARI opened at $8.22 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a PE ratio of -8.65 and a beta of 1.41. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.70 and a 1-year high of $11.20. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.20.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 12.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s dividend payout ratio is presently -105.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

In other news, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.96, for a total value of $109,560.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,855.04. This trade represents a 53.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total transaction of $520,219.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 385,928 shares in the company, valued at $3,855,420.72. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ARI shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $10.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.50.

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.