Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. to Issue Monthly Dividend of $0.08 (NYSE:APLE)

Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) announced a monthly dividend on Thursday, September 19th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.08 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th.

Apple Hospitality REIT has a dividend payout ratio of 111.6% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Apple Hospitality REIT to earn $1.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.2%.

Apple Hospitality REIT Stock Performance

NYSE:APLE opened at $15.19 on Friday. Apple Hospitality REIT has a twelve month low of $13.60 and a twelve month high of $17.90. The company has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.66 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $14.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.91.

Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.13). Apple Hospitality REIT had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 14.91%. The company had revenue of $390.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $388.82 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.49 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Hospitality REIT will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Apple Hospitality REIT

In related news, Chairman Glade M. Knight bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $14.04 per share, with a total value of $70,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 636,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,943,339.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 6.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on APLE. Wedbush began coverage on Apple Hospitality REIT in a report on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $15.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple Hospitality REIT presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.25.

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.