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

Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. (NYSE:ACRE) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,230,000 shares, a decline 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. purchased a new position in Ares Commercial Real Estate in the first quarter worth about $630,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in the 1st quarter worth approximately $108,000. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in the first quarter worth approximately $134,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 4.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 51,234 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $382,000 after buying an additional 1,949 shares during the period. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate during the first quarter valued at approximately $84,000. Institutional investors own 41.34% of the company’s stock.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Price Performance

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

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $18.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.77 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post -2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Dividend Announcement

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

About Ares Commercial Real Estate

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.