Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,056,252 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 220,280 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.44% of Apple Hospitality REIT worth $15,685,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP raised its position in Apple Hospitality REIT by 127.5% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,302 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 40.4% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,712 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 4,406.5% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 5,543 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 5,420 shares during the last quarter. Palouse Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple Hospitality REIT in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $99,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Apple Hospitality REIT by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 7,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 1,831 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APLE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 price target (up previously from $17.00) on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com raised Apple Hospitality REIT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.80.

Apple Hospitality REIT Price Performance

Shares of NYSE APLE opened at $15.44 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.93. Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.60 and a twelve month high of $17.08. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.16 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $378.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. 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 Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Apple Hospitality REIT’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.94%.

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.