UPDATE: Stifel Nicolaus Initiates Ares Commercial Real Estate with Buy, $19.50 PT on Market Recovery

Stifel Nicolaus initiates its coverage on Ares Commercial Real Estate ACRE with a Buy rating and a price target of $19.50. Stifel Nicolaus comments, "We are initiating coverage of Ares Commercial Real Estate Finance with a Buy rating and a $19.50 target price (1.07x book value), which we think is appropriate as ACRE's dividend yield grows and as commercial real estate lending markets recover. ACRE trades at roughly 92% of the $18.20 book value. We expect the shares will eventually trade at 1.07x book value and pay a $1.60 annual dividend by 1Q13." ACRE closed at $16.76 on Friday.