Short Interest in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) Rises By 6.8%

Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,690,000 shares, a growth of 6.8% from the October 15th total of 10,010,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,960,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on APLE. StockNews.com cut Apple Hospitality REIT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $18.00 target price (up from $17.00) on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Apple Hospitality REIT from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.50.

Apple Hospitality REIT Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE APLE traded down $0.13 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $15.39. 151,067 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,046,388. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.66. Apple Hospitality REIT has a 52-week low of $13.60 and a 52-week high of $17.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a PE ratio of 18.26 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.22). Apple Hospitality REIT had a net margin of 14.53% and a return on equity of 6.17%. The company had revenue of $378.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $377.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Hospitality REIT will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Hospitality REIT Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Apple Hospitality REIT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of APLE. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,555,550 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $582,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217,142 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Apple Hospitality REIT by 3.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,398,673 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $121,192,000 after buying an additional 253,082 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Apple Hospitality REIT by 11.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,737,959 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $100,059,000 after acquiring an additional 718,844 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,761,364 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $85,571,000 after acquiring an additional 62,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,457,063 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $66,187,000 after acquiring an additional 182,917 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.66% of the company’s stock.

About Apple Hospitality REIT

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.