Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (APLE) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 31st

Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE:APLE) declared a monthly dividend on Thursday, March 20th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.08 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st.

Apple Hospitality REIT has increased its dividend payment by an average of 188.5% per year over the last three years. Apple Hospitality REIT has a payout ratio of 112.9% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Apple Hospitality REIT to earn $1.62 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.3%.

Apple Hospitality REIT Stock Performance

APLE stock opened at $13.31 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.09. The company has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Apple Hospitality REIT has a fifty-two week low of $13.01 and a fifty-two week high of $16.83.

Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $333.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $330.11 million. Apple Hospitality REIT had a return on equity of 6.17% and a net margin of 14.53%. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Hospitality REIT will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on APLE. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Apple Hospitality REIT in a research report on Monday, December 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $16.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Apple Hospitality REIT from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Apple Hospitality REIT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple Hospitality REIT currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.80.

Apple Hospitality REIT Company 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.