Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Takes $127,000 Position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 14,655 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $127,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 46,143 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,364 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 278,588 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,413,000 after purchasing an additional 2,164 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 25,746 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 2,204 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 327.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,045 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 2,332 shares during the period. Finally, AM Investment Strategies LLC raised its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 111,498 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $966,000 after buying an additional 3,081 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Up 0.1 %

ARI stock opened at $9.58 on Wednesday. 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 50-day moving average price is $9.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.26. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.44 and a 52 week high of $11.20. The company has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.08 and a beta of 1.74.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.07. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance had a positive return on equity of 9.37% and a negative net margin of 39.40%. On average, research analysts expect that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s dividend payout ratio is currently -105.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.00 to $8.75 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group raised their price target on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.08.

Insider Transactions at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

In other news, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 9,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,855.04. This trade represents a 53.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total value of $520,219.26. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 385,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,855,420.72. This represents a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.68% 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.