LaSalle Hotel Properties (NYSE:LHO) COO Alfred L. Young sold 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.11, for a total transaction of $477,870.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 90,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,530,574.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 28th.
A number of brokerages have recently commented on LHO. Deutsche Bank AG restated a “hold” rating on shares of LaSalle Hotel Properties in a report on Sunday, June 26th. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of LaSalle Hotel Properties in a report on Monday, May 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. Credit Suisse Group AG cut shares of LaSalle Hotel Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $26.00 to $25.00 in a report on Thursday, July 21st. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of LaSalle Hotel Properties in a report on Tuesday, March 29th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays PLC set a $25.00 target price on shares of LaSalle Hotel Properties and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, July 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.46.
LaSalle Hotel Properties (NYSE:LHO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95. The firm had revenue of $351.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $344.43 million. LaSalle Hotel Properties’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that LaSalle Hotel Properties will post $2.94 earnings per share for the current year.
Lasalle Hotel Properties is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company primarily buys, owns, redevelops and leases upscale and luxury hotels located in convention, resort and urban business markets. The Company owns interest in approximately 50 hotels with over 12,000 guest rooms located in approximately 10 states and the District of Columbia.
