PFG Investments LLC Invests $509,000 in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI)

PFG Investments LLC bought a new stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 45,682 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $509,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,665,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $158,687,000 after purchasing an additional 54,938 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,961,777 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $23,031,000 after buying an additional 120,055 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,006,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 0.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,015,552 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,288,000 after buying an additional 8,495 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 762,079 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,947,000 after buying an additional 11,102 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on ARI. TheStreet upgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $11.00 to $10.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $10.50 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.60, for a total transaction of $424,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 415,292 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,402,095.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Down 1.1 %

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance stock traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $10.68. 599,654 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 772,093. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $9.22 and a 1 year high of $12.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 67.74 and a quick ratio of 67.73. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.60 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $10.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.01.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance’s payout ratio is 466.67%.

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance 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.