Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Lowers Holdings in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. $APLE

Key Points

• Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH has reduced its stake in Apple Hospitality REIT by 28.7%, now holding approximately 654,055 shares valued at $7.63 million.
• Insider activity noted that Chairman Glade M. Knight purchased 5,000 shares, increasing his ownership to 705,344 shares, valued at around $8.67 million.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on the stock, with Wells Fargo raising the price target to $13.00, while BMO Capital Markets downgraded it and lowered the price target to $12.00.

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH decreased its stake in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE - Free Report) by 28.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 654,055 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 262,985 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH owned approximately 0.27% of Apple Hospitality REIT worth $7,633,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of APLE. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,841,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT in the first quarter valued at approximately $9,055,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 9.4% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,401,428 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $95,552,000 after buying an additional 633,688 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 59.3% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,452,584 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $18,753,000 after buying an additional 540,957 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT in the first quarter valued at approximately $6,254,000. 89.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple Hospitality REIT

In other news, Chairman Glade M. Knight bought 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $12.29 per share, for a total transaction of $61,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 705,344 shares in the company, valued at $8,668,677.76. The trade was a 0.71% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 7.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on APLE shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Apple Hospitality REIT from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. BMO Capital Markets cut Apple Hospitality REIT from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple Hospitality REIT has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $15.00.

Apple Hospitality REIT Stock Performance

NYSE APLE opened at $12.03 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.04 and a beta of 1.05. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $12.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.14. Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.44 and a 1-year high of $16.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. The business had revenue of $384.37 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $381.37 million. Apple Hospitality REIT had a return on equity of 5.58% and a net margin of 12.71%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Hospitality REIT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a oct 25 dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 758.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. Apple Hospitality REIT's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.00%.

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.

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