American Century Companies Inc. Increases Position in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) by 9.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 74,153 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,668 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Apple Hospitality REIT were worth $1,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in APLE. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 3.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,555,550 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $582,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217,142 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 3.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,398,673 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $121,192,000 after acquiring an additional 253,082 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 3.5% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,298,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $119,553,000 after acquiring an additional 247,110 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 17.2% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,019,115 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $87,518,000 after acquiring an additional 881,217 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 2.1% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,572,043 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,398,000 after acquiring an additional 53,300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple Hospitality REIT

In other Apple Hospitality REIT news, Chairman Glade M. Knight bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $14.04 per share, for a total transaction of $70,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now owns 636,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,943,339.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APLE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Apple Hospitality REIT from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price 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. Finally, Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $15.00 target price for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple Hospitality REIT has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.25.

Apple Hospitality REIT Stock Performance

NYSE APLE opened at $14.85 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. has a 1 year low of $13.60 and a 1 year high of $17.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a PE ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a fifty day moving average of $14.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.81.

Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.13). Apple Hospitality REIT had a net margin of 14.91% and a return on equity of 6.30%. The company had revenue of $390.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $388.82 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Hospitality REIT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.47%. Apple Hospitality REIT’s dividend payout ratio is presently 111.63%.

Apple Hospitality REIT Company 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.