Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) Shares Gap Up - What's Next?

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $9.09, but opened at $9.44. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance shares last traded at $9.14, with a volume of 209,102 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ARI. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $11.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $10.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com lowered Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $9.75.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.89 and a beta of 1.41. 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 company's fifty day moving average is $9.36 and its 200 day moving average is $9.16.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.07. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a negative net margin of 39.40% and a positive return on equity of 9.37%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.64%. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance's payout ratio is -3,333.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total value of $520,219.26. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 385,928 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,855,420.72. This trade represents a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 11,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.96, for a total transaction of $109,560.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $95,855.04. This trade represents a 53.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 65.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 329,462 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,028,000 after acquiring an additional 130,892 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 114,639 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $993,000 after buying an additional 10,447 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the fourth quarter worth about $129,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the fourth quarter worth about $93,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 46,143 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,364 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.43% of the company's stock.

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.