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

Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) declared a monthly dividend on Friday, April 19th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.08 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th.

Apple Hospitality REIT has raised its dividend by an average of 47.4% per year over the last three years.

Apple Hospitality REIT Stock Performance

NYSE APLE traded up $0.21 on Friday, reaching $15.14. The stock had a trading volume of 1,778,781 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,901,519. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $16.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.25. Apple Hospitality REIT has a 1-year low of $14.22 and a 1-year high of $17.90. The company has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.35 and a beta of 1.08.

Institutional Trading of Apple Hospitality REIT

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of APLE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Apple Hospitality REIT by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,258,207 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $597,649,000 after purchasing an additional 452,722 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Apple Hospitality REIT by 3.7% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 22,090,357 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $333,785,000 after purchasing an additional 793,533 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Apple Hospitality REIT by 2.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,696,934 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $166,860,000 after purchasing an additional 254,813 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Apple Hospitality REIT by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,893,352 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $124,558,000 after purchasing an additional 66,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Apple Hospitality REIT by 8.1% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,018,355 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $93,404,000 after purchasing an additional 451,028 shares during the last quarter. 89.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on APLE shares. StockNews.com lowered Apple Hospitality REIT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Bank of America lowered Apple Hospitality REIT from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Apple Hospitality REIT from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.40.

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.