Swiss National Bank Sells 7,200 Shares of Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH)

Swiss National Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH) by 11.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 56,367 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,200 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.12% of Choice Hotels International worth $7,345,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Choice Hotels International by 161.3% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,231,000 after acquiring an additional 6,384 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Choice Hotels International by 7.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,738,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,957,000 after acquiring an additional 195,956 shares in the last quarter. &PARTNERS bought a new position in shares of Choice Hotels International during the second quarter valued at approximately $366,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of Choice Hotels International during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,089,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Choice Hotels International in the third quarter worth $42,280,000. Institutional investors own 65.57% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Choice Hotels International news, SVP Simone Wu sold 7,840 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.08, for a total value of $1,019,827.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 45,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,940,623.52. This represents a 14.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Patrick Pacious sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.37, for a total value of $1,206,709.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 404,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,709,646.42. This represents a 2.42 % 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 valued at $9,788,980 over the last ninety days. 24.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Choice Hotels International Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE CHH opened at $152.95 on Tuesday. Choice Hotels International, Inc. has a 12 month low of $108.91 and a 12 month high of $153.81. The stock has a market cap of $7.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $137.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 177.75.

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

Choice Hotels International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. Choice Hotels International’s payout ratio is currently 22.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CHH shares. StockNews.com raised Choice Hotels International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Choice Hotels International from $113.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays upped their price target on Choice Hotels International from $112.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Choice Hotels International from $144.00 to $134.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on Choice Hotels International from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Choice Hotels International has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.00.

About Choice Hotels International

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.