Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Buys Shares of 14,655 Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 14,655 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $127,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ARI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,236,601 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $131,949,000 after acquiring an additional 135,785 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $19,601,000 after purchasing an additional 162,089 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,063,511 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,210,000 after purchasing an additional 115,109 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,022,941 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,859,000 after purchasing an additional 56,284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 16,040 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total transaction of $520,219.26. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 385,928 shares in the company, valued at $3,855,420.72. This trade represents a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.96, for a total transaction of $109,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target 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 report on Tuesday, January 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.08.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Performance

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance stock opened at $9.58 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.08 and a beta of 1.74. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.44 and a 12 month high of $11.20. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $9.66 and its 200-day moving average is $9.26.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.44%. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s payout ratio is -105.26%.

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.