Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. (NYSE:ACRE) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. (NYSE:ACRE) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, August 6th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 14.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th.

Ares Commercial Real Estate has a dividend payout ratio of 144.9% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Ares Commercial Real Estate to earn $0.70 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 142.9%.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Stock Performance

ACRE stock traded up $0.39 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $7.14. 172,230 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 629,586. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $389.18 million, a PE ratio of -8.13 and a beta of 1.46. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a 1 year low of $6.36 and a 1 year high of $11.24.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.64) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by ($0.34). The business had revenue of $18.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.77 million. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative net margin of 54.60% and a positive return on equity of 0.84%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ACRE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Ares Commercial Real Estate from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com lowered Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 27th. BTIG Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Ares Commercial Real Estate from $7.50 to $7.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Commercial Real Estate currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.80.

About Ares Commercial Real Estate

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. It provides a range of financing solutions for the owners, operators, and sponsors of CRE properties. The company originates senior mortgage loans, subordinate debt and preferred equity products, mezzanine loans, and other CRE investments, including commercial mortgage-backed securities.