Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Buys New Shares in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 7,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $67,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,236,601 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $131,949,000 after acquiring an additional 135,785 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 278,588 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,413,000 after purchasing an additional 2,164 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance during the 4th quarter worth approximately $221,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance during the 4th quarter worth approximately $165,000. Finally, Palogic Value Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. now owns 120,134 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,040,000 after buying an additional 19,513 shares during the last quarter. 54.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance stock opened at $9.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 51.19 and a quick ratio of 51.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.28. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.44 and a 1 year high of $11.20. The company has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.36 and a beta of 1.74.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) 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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Research analysts forecast that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. will post 0.63 EPS for the current year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.16%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s payout ratio is -105.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ARI. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.00 to $8.75 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.08.

Insider Transactions at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

In other Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total value of $520,219.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 385,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,855,420.72. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $95,855.04. This 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.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Profile

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.