Extended Stay America, Inc. (STAY) Cut to Hold at Zacks Investment Research

Extended Stay America, Inc. (NYSE:STAY) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday, July 22nd.

According to Zacks, “Extended Stay America, Inc. owns and operates hotels under the core brand, Extended Stay America(R). It is the owner/operator of company-branded hotels in North America. The Company offers guest rooms, dining services, on-site laundry, local phone calls, personalized voicemail, pools, fitness centers, and pet friendly accommodations. Extended Stay America, Inc. is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. “

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on STAY. BidaskClub upgraded shares of Extended Stay America from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective (up from $20.00) on shares of Extended Stay America in a report on Thursday, June 29th. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Extended Stay America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 27th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Extended Stay America from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Friday, May 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.40.

Shares of Extended Stay America (NYSE:STAY) traded up 0.135% during trading on Friday, reaching $18.485. 818,531 shares of the company traded hands. Extended Stay America has a 12-month low of $13.00 and a 12-month high of $20.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 billion, a PE ratio of 23.729 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $19.40 and its 200-day moving average is $17.94.

Extended Stay America (NYSE:STAY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.01. Extended Stay America had a net margin of 5.24% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The company had revenue of $338.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $342.70 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Extended Stay America will post $1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WARNING: This story was first posted by [[site]] and is the sole property of of [[site]]. If you are viewing this story on another site, it was illegally copied and reposted in violation of U.S. and international copyright laws. The correct version of this story can be viewed at [[permalink]].

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Extended Stay America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $320,000. Oxford Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Extended Stay America during the first quarter valued at approximately $241,000. Quantitative Systematic Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Extended Stay America by 35.5% in the first quarter. Quantitative Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 120,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,922,000 after buying an additional 31,565 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Capital Management Holdings LLC. increased its position in shares of Extended Stay America by 474.3% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Capital Management Holdings LLC. now owns 801,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,768,000 after buying an additional 661,554 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OppenheimerFunds Inc. increased its position in shares of Extended Stay America by 4.1% in the first quarter. OppenheimerFunds Inc. now owns 2,783,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,363,000 after buying an additional 109,486 shares during the last quarter.

About Extended Stay America

Extended Stay America, Inc is a owner/operator of company-branded hotels in North America. The Company operates in the extended stay lodging industry. The Company owns and operates approximately 700 hotel properties consisting of approximately 75,900 rooms located in 44 states across the United States of America and in Canada.

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Extended Stay America (STAY)

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com