Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.96.

HST has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Compass Point raised shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $18.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 17th.

Institutional Trading of Host Hotels & Resorts

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HST. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Host Hotels & Resorts by 34.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 342,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,090,000 after purchasing an additional 88,437 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 16.6% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 45,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $820,000 after buying an additional 6,505 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the second quarter worth approximately $340,000. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 7.9% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 98,922 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,779,000 after buying an additional 7,273 shares during the period. Finally, Dana Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 10.4% during the second quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 147,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,647,000 after buying an additional 13,856 shares during the period. 98.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Host Hotels & Resorts Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of HST opened at $16.49 on Thursday. Host Hotels & Resorts has a 52-week low of $15.71 and a 52-week high of $21.31. The company has a quick ratio of 2.90, a current ratio of 2.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $17.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.55. The stock has a market cap of $11.53 billion, a PE ratio of 16.01 and a beta of 1.31.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.24). Host Hotels & Resorts had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 12.92%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Host Hotels & Resorts will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.85%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.67%.

About Host Hotels & Resorts

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the management of luxury and upper-upscale hotels. It operates through the following geographical segments: United States, Brazil, and Canada. The company was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Bethesda, MD.