DiamondRock Hospitality (NYSE:DRH) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.08 Per Share

DiamondRock Hospitality (NYSE:DRH) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 28th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of 0.08 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, April 11th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from DiamondRock Hospitality’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03.

DiamondRock Hospitality has a payout ratio of 191.7% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect DiamondRock Hospitality to earn $1.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 90.2%.

DiamondRock Hospitality Stock Up 0.5 %

DiamondRock Hospitality stock traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $8.21. 6,888,378 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,691,681. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $8.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.86. The firm has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.57. DiamondRock Hospitality has a 1 year low of $7.74 and a 1 year high of $10.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on DRH. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded DiamondRock Hospitality from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $10.75 to $10.25 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered shares of DiamondRock Hospitality from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and set a $10.50 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of DiamondRock Hospitality from $10.50 to $9.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded DiamondRock Hospitality from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, DiamondRock Hospitality currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.05.

About DiamondRock Hospitality

DiamondRock Hospitality Company is a self-advised real estate investment trust (REIT) that is an owner of a leading portfolio of geographically diversified hotels concentrated in leisure destinations and top gateway markets. The Company currently owns 36 premium quality hotels with over 9,700 rooms. The Company has strategically positioned its portfolio to be operated both under leading global brand families as well as independent boutique hotels in the lifestyle segment.