SG Americas Securities LLC Reduces Stake in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE)

SG Americas Securities LLC lowered its stake in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) by 71.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 24,304 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Apple Hospitality REIT were worth $159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Apple Hospitality REIT by 7.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,369,907 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $542,574,000 after acquiring an additional 2,476,241 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 3.7% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 22,090,357 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $333,785,000 after buying an additional 793,533 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 2.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,696,934 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $166,860,000 after buying an additional 254,813 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,893,352 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $124,558,000 after buying an additional 66,044 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple Hospitality REIT by 19.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,040,599 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $108,003,000 after buying an additional 1,170,865 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Apple Hospitality REIT Stock Performance

Apple Hospitality REIT stock opened at $15.62 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $16.22 and a 200-day moving average price 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, 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 PE ratio of 20.03 and a beta of 1.08.

Apple Hospitality REIT Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. 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.