Short Interest in Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. (NYSE:ACRE) Decreases By 11.1%

Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. (NYSE:ACRE) was the target of a large decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,690,000 shares, a decline of 11.1% from the October 15th total of 1,900,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 449,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Commercial Real Estate

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ACRE. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in the second quarter valued at about $894,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Ares Commercial Real Estate by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,783,379 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $20,736,000 after buying an additional 34,611 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate by 26.9% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 524,694 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,489,000 after acquiring an additional 111,194 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in the first quarter worth $108,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate during the first quarter worth $164,000. 41.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACRE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Ares Commercial Real Estate from $7.00 to $6.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $7.50 to $7.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Commercial Real Estate currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.10.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate stock traded up $0.08 during trading on Monday, reaching $6.98. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 423,890 shares, compared to its average volume of 573,195. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $6.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.98. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a 1-year low of $6.25 and a 1-year high of $11.24. The company has a market cap of $380.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.85 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 14.33%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Ares Commercial Real Estate’s dividend payout ratio is presently -84.75%.

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.