Dividend increase: Wyndham Hotels

Article Excerpt

WYNDHAM HOTELS & RESORTS INC. $49 (New York symbol WH; Cyclical-Growth Payer Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares o/s: 97.9 million; Market cap: $4.8 billion; Divd. yield: 2.4%; Divd. Sustainability Rating: Above Average, www.wyndhamhotels.com) is the world’s largest hotel franchiser with 9,157 hotels spread across 80 countries. On June 1, 2018, Wyndham Worldwide (old New York symbol WYN) spun off Wyndham Hotels. Investors received one share of the new company for each WYN share they held. The remaining firm then changed its name to Wyndham Destinations (New York symbol WYND). With the March 2019 payment, Wyndham Hotels increased its quarterly dividend by 16.0%, to $0.29 a share from $0.25. The new annual rate of $1.16 yields 2.4%. The new company expects to earn between $3.05 and $3.17 a share in 2019. The stock trades at 15.8 times the midpoint of that range. Wyndham Hotels is a buy. buy. …