Brokerages Set Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH) Price Target at $128.78

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH) has earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $130.00.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Choice Hotels International from $113.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Choice Hotels International from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Choice Hotels International from $105.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Choice Hotels International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Choice Hotels International from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $120.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, July 19th.

Choice Hotels International Trading Up 1.5 %

CHH opened at $146.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 177.75, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. Choice Hotels International has a one year low of $108.91 and a one year high of $149.75. The company has a market cap of $6.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.02, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.54.

Choice Hotels International (NYSE:CHH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.92 by $0.31. Choice Hotels International had a net margin of 16.27% and a negative return on equity of 659.01%. The company had revenue of $428.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $432.62 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Choice Hotels International will post 6.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Choice Hotels International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. Choice Hotels International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.03%.

Insider Activity at Choice Hotels International

In related news, CEO Patrick Pacious sold 26,816 shares of Choice Hotels International stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.69, for a total transaction of $3,880,007.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 404,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,551,123.54. The trade was a 6.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Simone Wu sold 7,840 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.08, for a total value of $1,019,827.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 45,669 shares in the company, valued at $5,940,623.52. This trade represents a 14.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 71,437 shares of company stock worth $9,788,980 over the last three months. 24.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Choice Hotels International by 77.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,105,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $488,590,000 after acquiring an additional 1,788,563 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Choice Hotels International by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,738,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,957,000 after purchasing an additional 195,956 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Choice Hotels International during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $19,545,000. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Choice Hotels International by 917.2% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 161,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,254,000 after buying an additional 145,893 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in Choice Hotels International by 45.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 364,983 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,557,000 after buying an additional 113,951 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.57% of the company’s stock.

Choice Hotels International Company Profile

Choice Hotels International, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a hotel franchisor in the United States and internationally. It operates through Hotel Franchising & Management and Corporate & Other segments. The company franchises lodging properties under the brand names of Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Clarion, Clarion Pointe, Sleep Inn, Ascend Hotel Collection, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, MainStay Suites, Suburban Studios, WoodSpring Suites, Everhome Suites, Cambria Hotels, Radisson Blu, Radisson RED, Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Radisson Inn & Suites, Park Inn by Radisson, Radisson Individuals, and Radisson Collection.