Wall Street Zen Upgrades Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) to “Hold”

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on ACRE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Ares Commercial Real Estate from $5.50 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Ares Commercial Real Estate from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research report on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Ares Commercial Real Estate in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $5.50 target price on the stock. Finally, Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a report on Thursday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ares Commercial Real Estate presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $5.25.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Stock Performance

NYSE:ACRE opened at $4.55 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $4.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.91. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a one year low of $4.05 and a one year high of $5.89. The firm has a market cap of $252.71 million, a P/E ratio of -12.65 and a beta of 1.15.

Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE:ACRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $13.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.63 million. Ares Commercial Real Estate had a negative net margin of 37.21% and a negative return on equity of 2.80%. On average, research analysts predict that Ares Commercial Real Estate will post 0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Commercial Real Estate

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 2.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,110,321 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,028,000 after acquiring an additional 74,453 shares in the last quarter. North Ground Capital raised its position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 34.0% in the 4th quarter. North Ground Capital now owns 1,551,806 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,418,000 after purchasing an additional 393,943 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,315,902 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,935,000 after purchasing an additional 37,062 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC boosted its stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC now owns 759,110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,629,000 after purchasing an additional 165,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 947.2% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 647,546 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,095,000 after purchasing an additional 585,711 shares in the last quarter. 41.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ares Commercial Real Estate

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE: ACRE) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) primarily focused on commercial real estate debt investments. Externally managed by an affiliate of Ares Management Corporation, ACRE seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns through its diversified portfolio of CRE financing strategies. The company specializes in originating, acquiring, financing and managing first mortgages, mezzanine loans, preferred equity and other structured finance products.

Since its inception, Ares Commercial Real Estate has targeted a broad range of property types, including multifamily, office, industrial, retail and hospitality assets.