On June 6, 2023, M&T Bank Corp made a significant move by lowering their stake in Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH) by 62.6%. The banking firm sold 3,529 shares during Q4 of the previous fiscal year and currently owns 2,110 shares in the corporation. According to the company’s latest disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission, their holdings were worth $242,000 as of the end of the most recent reporting period.
Choice Hotels International released their earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. With a revenue of $333.80 million during the quarter—a remarkable increase compared to analyst expectations of $320.43 million—the company had an outstanding showing. Analysts predicted that Choice Hotels International would earn $1.08 per share for the quarter; however, they surpassed those projections by earning $1.12 per share—an impressive increase by $.0.04 earnings per share.
Last year’s Q4 earnings per share totaled to $1.03—so clearly this year triumphed over last year’s profits as well as market predictions.
Despite their successful financial accomplishments recently, some research firms had negative views on CHH’s growth and future success due to a multitude of reasons:
Morgan Stanley increased its target price from $130.00 to $134;
Barclays lowered its price target by one dollar following Morgan Stanley’s report;
Wells Fargo & Company dropped its price target from$122 to $113 because they feel that CHH is “underweight”;
TheStreet lowered CHH from a “B” rating to a “C+”;
Finally Robert W Baird revised its price target up from Morgan Stanley.”
Presently Bloomberg has rated CHH with an average consensus rating of “hold”. It appears that many are wary about making bold investments however only time will tell if these cautions prove unfounded or well-warranted.
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Institutional Investors Increasing Stake in Choice Hotels International, Despite Mixed Analyst Reviews and Director’s Share Sale
Choice Hotels International, a hospitality company listed on the NYSE under ticker symbol CHH, has attracted attention from a number of institutional investors. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in the company by 71.4% in Q4 2022, now owning 384 shares worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in that quarter alone. Bessemer Group Inc., meanwhile, increased its holdings by 131.7% during Q3 of the same year – it now owns 438 shares valued at $48,000 from an initial purchase of just 189. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted their position by 28% over Q2 to own a total of 599 shares worth $67,000. The biggest single investor within this period was Neo Ivy Capital Management, which purchased one-dozen Choice Hotel International’s shares for roughly $73k during Q3 as well. Homestead Advisers Corp capped off this list of institutional investors who modified their positions last year: they increased their stake by more than 30%, buying up more than two hundred CHH shares to bring their total holdings to 925.
57.03% of CHH’s stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
On June 6th, the stock opened at a value of $113.69 per share and analysts have noted that it has had a one-year fluctuation ranging from $104.15 per share up to $133.13 per share at the highest point in that period.
Recent reports and surveys show that several research firms have been weighing in on Choice Hotels’ current standings and outlook: Barclays dropped their price target from prior estimates from $120 to $119 most recently and four other analysts gave negative evaluations or “sell” ratings while only one assigned a “buy” rating.
The final highlight about Choice Hotels is its recent sale featuring Director William L. Jews disposing of over two thousand of the firm’s shares earlier this year. After completing the sale at an average price of $119.46 per share, Mr. Jews reduced his ownership of CHH to 23,389 shares valued at over $2.7m.
Additionally, Choice Hotels has also announced an upcoming dividend payment on July 19th for shareholders of record as of July 5th: the $0.287 dividend brings its annualized return rate to 1.01% with a dividend payout ratio (DPR) of nearly 20%.