Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) Cut to Neutral at Compass Point

Compass Point cut shares of Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. Compass Point currently has $18.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $20.00.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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 note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reduced 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 note on Tuesday, January 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.21.

Host Hotels & Resorts Price Performance

HST stock opened at $15.11 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.90, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Host Hotels & Resorts has a 12 month low of $15.00 and a 12 month high of $21.27. The firm has a market cap of $10.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.26 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $16.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.43.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.29. Host Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 12.26% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Host Hotels & Resorts will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.29%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s payout ratio is 80.81%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 606,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,668,000 after purchasing an additional 113,761 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 123.4% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 65,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after acquiring an additional 36,278 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts in the 3rd quarter valued at $540,000. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,775,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts in the 3rd quarter valued at $639,000. Institutional investors own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

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.