Insider Selling: Travel + Leisure (NYSE:TNL) Director Sells 2,500 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Travel + Leisure director Denny Marie Post sold 2,500 shares on May 14 at an average price of $63.83, totaling about $159,575. The sale cut her stake by 55.84% to 1,977 shares.
• The stock slipped 1.0% in Friday trading to $62.93, with volume below average. Travel + Leisure currently has a market cap of about $3.93 billion and trades well below its 50-day average.
• The company recently beat earnings expectations, reporting Q1 EPS of $1.45 versus estimates of $1.31, while revenue also topped forecasts. Travel + Leisure also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.60 per share, implying a 3.8% annual yield.

Travel + Leisure Co. (NYSE:TNL - Get Free Report) Director Denny Marie Post sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.83, for a total transaction of $159,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,977 shares in the company, valued at $126,191.91. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Travel + Leisure Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:TNL traded down $0.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $62.93. The stock had a trading volume of 274,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 735,808. The firm has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a PE ratio of 17.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.96. Travel + Leisure Co. has a twelve month low of $46.75 and a twelve month high of $81.00.

Travel + Leisure (NYSE:TNL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $961.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $954.81 million. Travel + Leisure had a net margin of 5.85% and a negative return on equity of 48.06%. Travel + Leisure's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.11 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Travel + Leisure Co. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Travel + Leisure Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th were given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 20th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. This is a positive change from Travel + Leisure's previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. Travel + Leisure's dividend payout ratio is 67.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TNL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Travel + Leisure from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $89.00 price target on shares of Travel + Leisure in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Travel + Leisure from $78.00 to $74.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Travel + Leisure from $107.00 to $105.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Travel + Leisure from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $85.00.

Institutional Trading of Travel + Leisure

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Travel + Leisure by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,632,657 shares of the company's stock worth $256,211,000 after buying an additional 146,484 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Travel + Leisure by 46.8% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,682,604 shares of the company's stock worth $138,449,000 after buying an additional 855,151 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in Travel + Leisure by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,612,657 shares of the company's stock worth $113,741,000 after buying an additional 17,377 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Travel + Leisure by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,208,918 shares of the company's stock worth $85,281,000 after buying an additional 10,137 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Travel + Leisure by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 906,101 shares of the company's stock worth $63,907,000 after buying an additional 77,135 shares during the period. 87.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Travel + Leisure

Travel + Leisure Co NYSE: TNL is a leisure travel company headquartered in Orlando, Florida, that specializes in vacation ownership, membership programs and branded travel experiences. The company operates an extensive portfolio of vacation clubs and destination services, offering members access to resorts, hotels, cruises and guided tours in markets around the world. Through its flagship membership brands, Travel + Leisure Co provides curated vacation packages, exchange services and unique travel itineraries that cater to both individual and family travelers.

In addition to its membership offerings, Travel + Leisure Co manages a network of resort properties and hospitality assets across North America, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

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