Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report issued on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $15.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of $16.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Compass Point cut Host Hotels & Resorts from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on 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, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.54.

Host Hotels & Resorts Trading Down 1.8 %

Host Hotels & Resorts stock opened at $14.69 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.31. The company has a market cap of $10.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.84 and a beta of 1.30. Host Hotels & Resorts has a 52-week low of $14.25 and a 52-week high of $20.98. 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 (NASDAQ:HST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.29. Host Hotels & Resorts had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 12.26%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.37 billion. Analysts predict that Host Hotels & Resorts will post 1.88 EPS for the current year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.45%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.81%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,496,145 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,212,000 after acquiring an additional 89,535 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 46.8% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 52,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $911,000 after acquiring an additional 16,578 shares during the last quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,629,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $198,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,068,000. 98.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.