William L. Jews Sells 2,214 Shares of Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH) Stock

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH – Get Rating) Director William L. Jews sold 2,214 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.46, for a total value of $264,484.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,389 shares in the company, valued at $2,794,049.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Choice Hotels International Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:CHH opened at $113.88 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.27. Choice Hotels International, Inc. has a one year low of $104.15 and a one year high of $150.41. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $118.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.76, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Choice Hotels International (NYSE:CHH – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 15th. The company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $362.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $356.74 million. Choice Hotels International had a return on equity of 99.85% and a net margin of 23.69%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Choice Hotels International, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Choice Hotels International Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 18th. Investors of record on Monday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.287 dividend. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. This is an increase from Choice Hotels International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 31st. Choice Hotels International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.23%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Choice Hotels International

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Choice Hotels International by 973.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,942,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $331,453,000 after acquiring an additional 2,668,582 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its stake in Choice Hotels International by 3,113.7% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 753,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,830,000 after acquiring an additional 729,673 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Choice Hotels International by 51.6% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,740,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,722,000 after acquiring an additional 592,654 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Choice Hotels International by 116.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 627,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,006,000 after acquiring an additional 337,252 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Choice Hotels International by 604.6% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 364,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,947,000 after acquiring an additional 312,978 shares during the period. 58.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CHH has been the topic of several research reports. Truist Financial cut their target price on Choice Hotels International from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Choice Hotels International from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on Choice Hotels International from $107.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, Redburn Partners started coverage on Choice Hotels International in a research report on Wednesday, November 30th. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.00.

Choice Hotels International Company Profile

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Choice Hotels International, Inc engages in the franchising and operations of hotels. It operates through Hotel Franchising, and Corporate and Other segments. The Hotel Franchising segment refers to the hotel franchising operations consisting of the company’s several hotel brands. The Corporate and Other segment deals with hotel revenues and rental income related to office buildings owned by the company.