Choice Hotels International (NYSE:CHH) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Choice Hotels International (NYSE:CHH) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.87 by ($0.03), Briefing.com reports. Choice Hotels International had a return on equity of 748.46% and a net margin of 15.34%. The company had revenue of $435.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $438.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Choice Hotels International updated its FY24 guidance to $6.40-6.65 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 6.400-6.650 EPS.

Choice Hotels International Price Performance

Shares of CHH traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $121.32. 633,370 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 548,847. Choice Hotels International has a 1-year low of $108.91 and a 1-year high of $136.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 177.75, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50 day moving average of $121.12 and a 200-day moving average of $120.23. The stock has a market cap of $5.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.23.

Choice Hotels International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st were paid a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. Choice Hotels International’s payout ratio is currently 24.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Dominic Dragisich sold 13,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.45, for a total transaction of $1,632,410.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 69,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,608,330.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Dominic Dragisich sold 13,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.45, for a total value of $1,632,410.65. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 69,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,608,330.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Robert J. Mcdowell sold 1,243 shares of Choice Hotels International stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.58, for a total transaction of $146,151.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,502 shares in the company, valued at $4,527,065.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,619 shares of company stock worth $3,436,998 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 24.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on CHH. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Choice Hotels International from $140.00 to $137.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Choice Hotels International from $146.00 to $144.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Susquehanna assumed coverage on Choice Hotels International in a research report on Friday, June 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Choice Hotels International from $128.00 to $112.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Choice Hotels International from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.45.

About Choice Hotels International

Choice Hotels International, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a hotel franchisor in the United States and internationally. It operates through Hotel Franchising & Management and Corporate & Other segments. The company franchises lodging properties under the brand names of Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Clarion, Clarion Pointe, Sleep Inn, Ascend Hotel Collection, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, MainStay Suites, Suburban Studios, WoodSpring Suites, Everhome Suites, Cambria Hotels, Radisson Blu, Radisson RED, Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Radisson Inn & Suites, Park Inn by Radisson, Radisson Individuals, and Radisson Collection.