During the 2nd quarter, Arrow Investment Advisors LLC purchased an additional 25,400 shares in Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:$AHT). This represents a 30.2% increase in their stake in the real estate firm. Arrow now owns 109,512 shares worth about $666,000 at the end of the most recent quarter, representing about 0.11% of the firm.
Ashford Hospitality is an externally advised real estate investment trust – or REIT – that specializes in acquiring upscale and upper-upscale full service hotels and resorts.
Multiple firms have also changed their stakes in the company recently;
- Eqis Capital Management Inc. bought an additional 1,481 shares last quarter, and now own 27,113 shares worth $165,000. This represents an increase of 5.8%.
- Ironwood Investment Management LLC bought an additional 2,500 shares last quarter, for a total of 239,550 shares valued at $1,456,000. This represents a 1.1% increase.
- BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA bought an additional 1,121 shares last quarter, and now own 42,940 shares worth $274,000. This represents an increase of 2.7%.
- Nationwide Fund Advisors bought an additional 2,479 shares last quarter, and now own 476,446 shares worth roughly $3,035,000. This represents an increase of 0.5%.
- Los Angeles Capital Management & Equity Research Inc. increased its position with a purchase of 2,200 shares last quarter. They now own 47,974 shares in the company, valued at $306,000. The purchase represents an increase of 4.8%.
Institutional ownership accounts for 70.27% of the company’s stock.
On Tuesday, Ashford stock reached $6.58, trading up 1.23% during mid day trading. Their current market cap is $641.09 million. They have a trading volume of 162,638. Their 52 week low is $5.35 and their 52 week high is $8.23. Their 50 and 200 day moving averages are $6.19 and $6.24 respectively.
The company’s last quarterly earnings were reported on August 3rd. They reported an EPS of $0.52, $0.03 below analysts estimates of $0.55. Analysts forecast an annualized EPS of -$1.10 earnings for the current fiscal year. The company had a $0.60 EPS during the same quarter last year.
Ashford also had a negative net margin of 5.43% and a negative return on equity of 10.41%. They reported a revenue of $390.70 which fell short of the analysts $399.01 million forecast. On a year-over-year basis, the firm’s revenue this quarter was down 4.9%.
They also recently announced a quarterly dividend. The dividend will be payable on October 16th. The dividend is only available to shareholders as of September 30th, and has an ex-dividend date of September 28th. The dividend will total $0.12, representing a $0.48 annualized dividend with a yield of 7.42%. Their payout ratio is currently sits at -35.82%.
Multiple research reports have recently noted the company, as well;
- Canaccord Genuity: In a report on June 26th, Canaccord Genuity restated a ‘Hold’ rating and set a price target of $7.00.
- Zacks Investment Research: In a research report on July 11th, Zacks dropped their rating from a ‘Hold’ to a ‘Sell’,
- BidaskClub: In a report on July 28th, BidaskClub cut their rating from a ‘Hold’ to a ‘Sell’.
- Cantor Fitzgerald: In a report on August 11th, Cantor Fitzgerald set a ‘Buy’ rating and dropped their target price from $8.00 to $7.50.
- ValuEngine: In a report on September 1st, ValuEngine cut their rating from a ‘Buy’ to a Hold’.
In total, Ashford Hospitality has four ‘Buy’ ratings, four ‘Hold’ ratings, and one ‘Sell’ rating, giving them a consensus of ‘Hold’. They also have an aggregate target price of $7.46.
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