Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. to Issue Monthly Dividend of $0.08 (NYSE:APLE)

Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) announced a monthly dividend on Tuesday, August 20th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.08 per share by the real estate investment trust on Monday, September 16th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th.

Apple Hospitality REIT has a dividend payout ratio of 111.6% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Apple Hospitality REIT to earn $1.40 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 68.6%.

Apple Hospitality REIT Stock Performance

APLE traded up $0.06 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $14.15. 195,095 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,100,097. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.42 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Apple Hospitality REIT has a 1 year low of $13.60 and a 1 year high of $17.90.

Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.13). Apple Hospitality REIT had a return on equity of 6.11% and a net margin of 14.58%. The firm had revenue of $390.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $388.82 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Hospitality REIT will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on APLE. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Wedbush assumed coverage on Apple Hospitality REIT in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $15.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Apple Hospitality REIT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Glade M. Knight acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $14.04 per share, with a total value of $70,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 636,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,943,339.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.