Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH) to Issue $0.29 Quarterly Dividend

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 11th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.2875 per share on Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd.

Choice Hotels International has raised its dividend payment by an average of 72.3% per year over the last three years. Choice Hotels International has a payout ratio of 16.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Choice Hotels International to earn $7.16 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.15 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.1%.

Choice Hotels International Stock Performance

NYSE:CHH opened at $146.37 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 177.75. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $142.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $129.52. Choice Hotels International has a fifty-two week low of $108.91 and a fifty-two week high of $153.81.

Choice Hotels International (NYSE:CHH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.92 by $0.31. Choice Hotels International had a negative return on equity of 659.01% and a net margin of 16.27%. The company had revenue of $428.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $432.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Choice Hotels International will post 6.84 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on CHH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Choice Hotels International from $118.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Choice Hotels International from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Choice Hotels International from $134.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays raised their target price on Choice Hotels International from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Choice Hotels International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Choice Hotels International has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.27.

Insider Activity

In other Choice Hotels International news, CEO Patrick Pacious sold 7,192 shares of Choice Hotels International stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.95, for a total value of $1,042,480.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 404,666 shares in the company, valued at $58,656,336.70. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Simone Wu sold 7,840 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.08, for a total value of $1,019,827.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 45,669 shares in the company, valued at $5,940,623.52. The trade was a 14.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 61,412 shares of company stock valued at $8,582,271. Company insiders own 24.02% of the company’s stock.

Choice Hotels International Company Profile

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.