Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. (NYSE:ACRE) Declares $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

Ares Commercial Real Estate Co. (NYSE:ACRE) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 7th,Zacks Dividends reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.59%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st.

Ares Commercial Real Estate has a payout ratio of 172.4% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Ares Commercial Real Estate to earn ($0.34) per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of -294.1%.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Stock Up 2.9 %

Ares Commercial Real Estate stock traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $7.36. 279,970 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 576,004. Ares Commercial Real Estate has a twelve month low of $6.25 and a twelve month high of $11.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $6.88 and a 200-day moving average of $6.97. The company has a market cap of $401.27 million, a P/E ratio of -8.16 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 2.32.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ACRE. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from $7.00 to $6.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. BTIG Research restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Ares Commercial Real Estate from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $7.50 to $7.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Commercial Real Estate presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $7.10.

Ares Commercial Real Estate Company 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.