Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) was the target of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,860,000 shares, a decline of 20.0% from the February 28th total of 8,580,000 shares. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,190,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on APLE. Bank of America upgraded Apple Hospitality REIT from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $16.00 to $17.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Apple Hospitality REIT from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Apple Hospitality REIT in a report on Monday, December 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.80.

Institutional Trading of Apple Hospitality REIT

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Apple Hospitality REIT by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,239,061 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $126,472,000 after acquiring an additional 1,761,996 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,767,740 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $103,885,000 after purchasing an additional 29,781 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,761,364 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $85,571,000 after purchasing an additional 62,149 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Apple Hospitality REIT by 0.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,575 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $77,867,000 after purchasing an additional 18,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Apple Hospitality REIT by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,590,568 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $70,465,000 after buying an additional 133,505 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.66% of the company’s stock.

Apple Hospitality REIT Stock Up 0.1 %

APLE stock traded up $0.02 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $12.93. The stock had a trading volume of 2,256,767 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,069,318. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $14.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.21 and a beta of 1.12. Apple Hospitality REIT has a 1-year low of $12.65 and a 1-year high of $16.51.

Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.01. Apple Hospitality REIT had a return on equity of 6.17% and a net margin of 14.53%. The business had revenue of $333.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $330.11 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Hospitality REIT will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Hospitality REIT Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Apple Hospitality REIT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 109.09%.

About Apple Hospitality REIT

Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc (NYSE: APLE) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns one of the largest and most diverse portfolios of upscale, rooms-focused hotels in the United States. Apple Hospitality's portfolio consists of 223 hotels with more than 29,400 guest rooms located in 87 markets throughout 37 states as well as one property leased to third parties.