Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Makes New $67,000 Investment in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 7,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $67,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 lifted its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 0.8% during the 4th 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 during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance during the 4th quarter worth approximately $221,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired 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. raised its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. now owns 120,134 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,040,000 after buying an additional 19,513 shares during the last quarter. 54.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 52,074 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total value of $520,219.26. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,928 shares in the company, valued at $3,855,420.72. The trade was a 11.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.96, for a total value of $109,560.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,855.04. The trade was a 53.34 % 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.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE ARI opened at $9.84 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 51.19, a current ratio of 51.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.44 and a twelve month high of $11.20. The company’s fifty day moving average is $9.63 and its 200-day moving average is $9.28. The stock has a market cap 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. will post 0.63 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.16%. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s payout ratio is -105.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ARI. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price 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. StockNews.com raised Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.08.

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.