Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.25 (NYSE:ARI)

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 12th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.12%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.3% annually over the last three years. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a dividend payout ratio of 84.7% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:ARI opened at $9.89 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of -10.41 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 51.19 and a current ratio of 51.19. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.31. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a 52 week low of $8.44 and a 52 week high of $11.64.

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 negative net margin of 39.40% and a positive return on equity of 9.37%. As a group, research analysts expect that Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Carmencita N.M. Whonder sold 11,000 shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.96, for a total transaction of $109,560.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,855.04. The trade was a 53.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. Finally, 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 on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.08.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Company 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.