Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. (NYSE:ACRE) Shares Acquired by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. (NYSE:ACRE) by 160.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 11,838 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 7,300 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Ares Commercial Real Estate were worth $70,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 17.1% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,733 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 1,711 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 4.3% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 88,093 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $617,000 after purchasing an additional 3,593 shares in the last quarter. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. now owns 96,364 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 4,369 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 211.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,741 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 5,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 37,339 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 6,072 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ACRE shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $6.00 to $5.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $6.00 to $5.50 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $6.00 to $5.25 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Commercial Real Estate presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Anton Feingold sold 7,615 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.68, for a total transaction of $43,253.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 78,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $445,084.80. This represents a 8.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACRE opened at $4.78 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.44. Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. has a one year low of $4.63 and a one year high of $7.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $261.94 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.35 and a beta of 1.50.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.57%. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s dividend payout ratio is currently -92.31%.

Ares Commercial Real Estate 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.