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

Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) announced a monthly dividend on Friday, March 21st, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.08 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st.

Apple Hospitality REIT has raised its dividend payment by an average of 188.5% per year over the last three years. Apple Hospitality REIT has a dividend payout ratio of 112.9% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Apple Hospitality REIT to earn $1.62 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 59.3%.

Apple Hospitality REIT Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE APLE traded down $0.21 on Friday, reaching $13.31. 2,403,885 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,938,760. Apple Hospitality REIT has a fifty-two week low of $13.02 and a fifty-two week high of $16.83. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $14.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Apple Hospitality REIT in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $16.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.80.

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.