Choice Hotels International (NYSE:CHH) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Choice Hotels International (NYSE:CHH) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $150.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on CHH. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Choice Hotels International from $144.00 to $134.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Choice Hotels International from $105.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $138.00 target price on shares of Choice Hotels International in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Choice Hotels International from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Choice Hotels International from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Choice Hotels International has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.78.

Choice Hotels International Stock Up 0.6 %

CHH stock opened at $144.91 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $132.45 and a 200 day moving average of $124.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.80 billion, a PE ratio of 27.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 177.75. Choice Hotels International has a 52 week low of $108.91 and a 52 week high of $149.75.

Choice Hotels International (NYSE:CHH) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $428.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $432.62 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. Choice Hotels International’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Choice Hotels International will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Choice Hotels International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were given a $0.2875 dividend. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. Choice Hotels International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Patrick Pacious sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.37, for a total value of $1,206,709.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 404,666 shares in the company, valued at $48,709,646.42. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Patrick Pacious sold 10,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.37, for a total value of $1,206,709.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 404,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,709,646.42. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Patrick Cimerola sold 1,714 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.00, for a total transaction of $231,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 18,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,441,340. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 64,245 shares of company stock worth $8,746,500 over the last three months. Insiders own 24.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Choice Hotels International by 77.2% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,105,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $488,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,788,563 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Choice Hotels International by 7.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,738,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,957,000 after purchasing an additional 195,956 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its position in shares of Choice Hotels International by 0.9% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 941,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,046,000 after purchasing an additional 8,033 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Choice Hotels International by 4.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 675,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,340,000 after purchasing an additional 26,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Choice Hotels International by 45.4% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 364,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,557,000 after purchasing an additional 113,951 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.