Short Interest in Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT) Drops By 88.5%

Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 120,400 shares, a decline of 88.5% from the October 15th total of 1,050,000 shares. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 39,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ashford Hospitality Trust

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AHT. PFG Investments LLC grew its position in Ashford Hospitality Trust by 76.1% in the 2nd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 29,813 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 12,888 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ashford Hospitality Trust by 4.9% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 482,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 22,400 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Ashford Hospitality Trust by 97.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 58,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 28,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Founders Financial Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ashford Hospitality Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. 41.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut Ashford Hospitality Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Ashford Hospitality Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AHT traded up $1.67 on Tuesday, reaching $10.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 128,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 47,550. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $12.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.08. Ashford Hospitality Trust has a 52-week low of $5.20 and a 52-week high of $24.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.71 million, a P/E ratio of -0.76 and a beta of 2.33.

Ashford Hospitality Trust (NYSE:AHT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The real estate investment trust reported ($12.39) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($12.99). The business had revenue of $276.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $273.50 million. Ashford Hospitality Trust had a net margin of 2.84% and a negative return on equity of 12.96%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.08 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ashford Hospitality Trust will post -2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Ashford Hospitality Trust

Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc, together with its subsidiaries (Ashford Trust), is a real estate investment trust (REIT). While our portfolio currently consists of upscale hotels and upper upscale full-service hotels, our investment strategy is predominantly focused on investing in upper upscale full-service hotels in the United States that have revenue per available room (RevPAR) generally less than twice the U.S.