Arizona State Retirement System Cuts Stock Holdings in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE)

Arizona State Retirement System lowered its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 60,762 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,185 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Apple Hospitality REIT were worth $1,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 6,927 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Apple Hospitality REIT by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 155,001 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,575,000 after acquiring an additional 3,772 shares in the last quarter. CIC Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Apple Hospitality REIT by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. CIC Wealth LLC now owns 16,730 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Apple Hospitality REIT by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 543,856 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,033,000 after acquiring an additional 48,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its stake in Apple Hospitality REIT by 5.6% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 421,897 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,472,000 after acquiring an additional 22,292 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on APLE. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Bank of America downgraded shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.40.

Apple Hospitality REIT Price Performance

Shares of APLE opened at $15.62 on Tuesday. Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $14.22 and a fifty-two week high of $17.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

Apple Hospitality REIT Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.15%. Apple Hospitality REIT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 123.08%.

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.