LPL Financial LLC Sells 36,720 Shares of Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE)

LPL Financial LLC reduced its stake in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE - Free Report) by 23.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 116,791 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 36,720 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC's holdings in Apple Hospitality REIT were worth $1,793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 80.9% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,905 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 2,193 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,257 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 2,541 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $159,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $167,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $200,000. 89.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APLE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Apple Hospitality REIT from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America raised Apple Hospitality REIT from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $16.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple Hospitality REIT currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $16.80.

Apple Hospitality REIT Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:APLE traded up $0.03 on Tuesday, hitting $11.84. 2,190,973 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,214,038. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.66. Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. has a 52 week low of $10.44 and a 52 week high of $16.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of 13.93 and a beta of 1.00.

Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $333.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $330.11 million. Apple Hospitality REIT had a return on equity of 6.17% and a net margin of 14.53%. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Hospitality REIT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Apple Hospitality REIT's dividend payout ratio is 109.09%.

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.