Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. (NYSE:ACRE) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from

Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. (NYSE:ACRE – Get Rating) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $16.38.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ACRE shares. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $14.50 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $16.00 to $16.50 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 31st. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company.

In other news, Director William Stephen Benjamin purchased 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $14.05 per share, for a total transaction of $252,900.00. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.96% of the company’s stock.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Analysts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in the 3rd quarter valued at $48,000. Selective Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in the 1st quarter valued at $53,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in the 3rd quarter valued at $81,000. Strs Ohio boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 10,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in the 4th quarter valued at $154,000. Institutional investors own 52.19% of the company’s stock.

Shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate stock traded down $0.31 on Monday, reaching $15.43. The company had a trading volume of 9,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 515,938. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $15.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.07. The firm has a market cap of $729.35 million, a PE ratio of 10.86 and a beta of 1.26. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a 52-week low of $13.48 and a 52-week high of $16.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 14th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.04. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a net margin of 59.23% and a return on equity of 9.83%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 30th. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 91.03%.

About Ares Commercial Real Estate (Get Rating)

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation, a specialty finance company, originates and invests in commercial real estate (CRE) loans and related investments in the United States. The company provides a range of financing solutions for the owners, operators, and sponsors of CRE properties. It originates senior mortgage loans, subordinate debt products, mezzanine loans, real estate preferred equity investments, and other CRE investments, including commercial mortgage backed securities.

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