Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. (NYSE:ACRE) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. (NYSE:ACRE) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,230,000 shares, a decrease of 10.8% from the May 31st total of 2,500,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 559,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Ares Commercial Real Estate

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in the 1st quarter worth approximately $84,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Ares Commercial Real Estate in the first quarter valued at approximately $108,000. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. bought a new position in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the first quarter valued at $134,000. Finally, Triumph Capital Management increased its position in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 15.0% in the first quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 20,178 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $146,000 after buying an additional 2,626 shares during the last quarter. 41.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Price Performance

NYSE ACRE opened at $6.70 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.02. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a 12 month low of $6.36 and a 12 month high of $11.24.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.64) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.30) by ($0.34). Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative net margin of 54.60% and a positive return on equity of 0.84%. The firm had revenue of $18.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.77 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post -2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.93%. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s payout ratio is presently -120.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on ACRE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Ares Commercial Real Estate from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $10.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $7.50 to $7.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com lowered Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 27th. Finally, TheStreet lowered Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.42.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Company Profile

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation, a specialty finance company, originates and invests in commercial real estate (CRE) loans and related investments in the United States. It provides a range of financing solutions for the owners, operators, and sponsors of CRE properties. The company originates senior mortgage loans, subordinate debt and preferred equity products, mezzanine loans, and other CRE investments, including commercial mortgage-backed securities.