Walleye Capital LLC Acquires New Position in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. $APLE

Key Points

• Walleye Capital LLC has acquired a new position in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc., purchasing 74,668 shares valued at approximately $964,000 during the first quarter.
• Several hedge funds have significantly increased their stakes in Apple Hospitality REIT, with Versant Capital Management raising its stake by over 569% during the same period.
• Analyst ratings for Apple Hospitality REIT are mixed, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target of $15.00.

Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 74,668 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $964,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Apple Hospitality REIT by 569.5% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,805 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 2,386 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in Apple Hospitality REIT by 128.1% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,118 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,751 shares during the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in Apple Hospitality REIT in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Apple Hospitality REIT by 16.9% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 9,934 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norinchukin Bank The bought a new position in Apple Hospitality REIT in the first quarter valued at approximately $133,000. 89.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

APLE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple Hospitality REIT presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $15.00.

Apple Hospitality REIT Stock Performance

Shares of Apple Hospitality REIT stock opened at $13.07 on Friday. Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $10.44 and a fifty-two week 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.42 and a beta of 1.08. The company's 50 day moving average price is $12.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.44.

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

Apple Hospitality REIT Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a aug 25 dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 735.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. Apple Hospitality REIT's payout ratio is 128.00%.

Insider Activity at Apple Hospitality REIT

In other Apple Hospitality REIT news, Chairman Glade M. Knight purchased 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $12.29 per share, for a total transaction of $61,450.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman owned 705,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,668,677.76. This trade represents a 0.71% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 7.10% of the company's stock.

Apple Hospitality REIT 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.

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