Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) Cut to “Hold” at Barclays

Barclays downgraded shares of Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms also recently commented on APLE. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upped their price objective on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.00.

Apple Hospitality REIT Stock Performance

Shares of APLE opened at $16.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a PE ratio of 22.76, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $15.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Apple Hospitality REIT has a 1 year low of $10.85 and a 1 year high of $17.13.

Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.01. Apple Hospitality REIT had a return on equity of 5.43% and a net margin of 12.08%.The company had revenue of $337.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $327.81 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Hospitality REIT will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Apple Hospitality REIT Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 5.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. Apple Hospitality REIT’s payout ratio is presently 131.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple Hospitality REIT news, Chairman Glade M. Knight bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $13.96 per share, for a total transaction of $69,800.00. Following the purchase, the chairman directly owned 747,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,430,786.36. The trade was a 0.67% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 6.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 91.9% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 109,512 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,298,000 after purchasing an additional 52,446 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 374,968 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,443,000 after purchasing an additional 61,354 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Apple Hospitality REIT in the 1st quarter worth $1,123,000. UBS Group AG raised its position in Apple Hospitality REIT by 60.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,721,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $55,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,786,018 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apple Hospitality REIT in the first quarter worth $702,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.66% of the company’s stock.

Apple Hospitality REIT Company Profile

Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE: APLE) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that focuses on acquiring, owning and operating high-quality, upscale, select-service hotels. The company’s portfolio primarily consists of properties operated under premium franchise agreements with leading lodging brands such as Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt. Apple Hospitality REIT is self-managed and internally advised, overseeing property management, revenue optimization and asset-level operations through its in-house team of hospitality professionals.

The company’s holdings encompass over 200 hotels featuring more than 30,000 guest rooms across a diverse array of markets in the United States.