Choice Hotels International (NYSE:CHH) Price Target Raised to $138.00

Choice Hotels International (NYSE:CHH) had its target price raised by The Goldman Sachs Group from $118.00 to $138.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a sell rating on the stock.

CHH has been the topic of a number of other reports. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Choice Hotels International from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Choice Hotels International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Choice Hotels International in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $133.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Choice Hotels International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Choice Hotels International from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Choice Hotels International currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.27.

Choice Hotels International Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Choice Hotels International stock opened at $146.37 on Tuesday. Choice Hotels International has a twelve month low of $108.91 and a twelve month high of $153.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 177.75. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $142.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $129.52.

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

Choice Hotels International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a $0.2875 dividend. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. Choice Hotels International’s payout ratio is 22.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Choice Hotels International news, CEO Patrick Pacious sold 26,816 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.69, for a total value of $3,880,007.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 404,666 shares in the company, valued at $58,551,123.54. This represents a 6.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Simone Wu sold 7,840 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.08, for a total transaction of $1,019,827.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 45,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,940,623.52. This represents 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 have sold 61,412 shares of company stock worth $8,582,271. Corporate insiders own 24.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Choice Hotels International

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CHH. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Choice Hotels International by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. grew its position in Choice Hotels International by 0.5% in the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 20,940 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,492,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Choice Hotels International by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Investment Managers LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Choice Hotels International by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Aurora Investment Managers LLC. now owns 12,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,624,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in Choice Hotels International by 4.4% in the second quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $387,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.57% of the company’s stock.

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.