Apollo Commercial cuts quarterly dividend to 25c from 35c per share

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance earlier today declared a dividend of 25c per share of common stock, which is payable on October 15, to common stockholders of record on September 30. The dividend is 10c below the company’s prior quarterly dividend of 35c per share. Commenting on the dividend, Stuart Rothstein, CEO, said: “When setting the dividend each quarter, the Board of Directors reviews multiple factors with a focus on providing stockholders a consistent quarterly dividend supported by operating earnings. The Board’s decision to set the dividend at $0.25 per share of common stock reflects the impact to operating earnings from ARI‘s focus loans as well as anticipated declines in floating interest rate benchmarks as indicated by the forward curves. As ARI’s focus loans are resolved, the Company should benefit from Apollo’s active pipeline of new floating rate loan opportunities and the ability to redeploy capital into investments with increased operating earnings potential.”