Blue Trust Inc. Grows Position in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) by 16.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,934 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,438 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Apple Hospitality REIT were worth $128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Apple Hospitality REIT by 27.2% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,239,061 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $126,472,000 after acquiring an additional 1,761,996 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Apple Hospitality REIT by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,767,740 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $103,885,000 after purchasing an additional 29,781 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Apple Hospitality REIT by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,590,568 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $70,465,000 after purchasing an additional 133,505 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,259,501 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,033,000 after acquiring an additional 209,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 2,163,458 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,209,000 after acquiring an additional 63,581 shares during the last quarter. 89.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $14.00 to $12.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple Hospitality REIT has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Glade M. Knight acquired 10,000 shares of Apple Hospitality REIT stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.43 per share, with a total value of $114,300.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 700,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,004,931.92. This trade represents a 1.45% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 12,000 shares of company stock worth $137,120. Insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

Apple Hospitality REIT Stock Performance

Shares of APLE stock opened at $11.57 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $11.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.48. Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. has a 52 week low of $10.44 and a 52 week high of $16.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.75 billion, a PE ratio of 14.65 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.01. Apple Hospitality REIT had a net margin of 13.38% and a return on equity of 5.84%. The business had revenue of $327.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $332.86 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Hospitality REIT Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Apple Hospitality REIT’s dividend payout ratio is presently 121.52%.

Apple Hospitality REIT 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.