HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 13,523 Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE)

HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 13,523 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in Apple Hospitality REIT during the third quarter worth about $4,285,000. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,067,000. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $571,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 6.2% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 74,732 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,110,000 after buying an additional 4,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple Hospitality REIT by 15.9% during the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 97,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,446,000 after acquiring an additional 13,402 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on APLE shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Apple Hospitality REIT from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Apple Hospitality REIT in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $18.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 target price (up from $17.00) on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT in a report on Friday, November 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.80.

Apple Hospitality REIT Stock Performance

NYSE APLE opened at $15.71 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.60 and a fifty-two week high of $17.11. The business has a fifty day moving average of $15.62 and a 200-day moving average of $14.92. The stock has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48 and a beta of 1.13.

Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.22). The company had revenue of $378.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $377.56 million. Apple Hospitality REIT had a return on equity of 6.17% and a net margin of 14.53%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Hospitality REIT Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Apple Hospitality REIT’s payout ratio is 112.94%.

Apple Hospitality REIT Company Profile

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.