Mortgage real estate investment trust Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (ARI -1.54%) announced this morning its second-quarter dividend for its 8.625% Series A cumulative redeemable perpetual preferred stock of $0.5391 per share for the period ending July 15. That's the same rate it's paid for the past three quarters after it was increased 21% from $0.4432 per share.

The board of directors said the quarterly dividend is payable on July 15 to holders of record at the close of business on June 28. 

The REIT also has a regular quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share that equates to a $1.60-per-share annual dividend, yielding 9.6% based on the closing price of Apollo's stock on June 11.