Vontobel Holding Ltd. Acquires Shares of 59,093 Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new stake in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 59,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,151,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 4,077,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,391,000 after acquiring an additional 51,409 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the 4th quarter worth approximately $831,000. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the 4th quarter worth approximately $241,000. Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the 4th quarter worth approximately $267,000. Finally, Eagle Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 21,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 617 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Host Hotels & Resorts Stock Performance

Shares of HST opened at $18.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 3.29 and a current ratio of 3.29. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.92 and a twelve month high of $21.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $20.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.81. The firm has a market cap of $13.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.31.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.25). Host Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 13.93% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.28%. This is a positive change from Host Hotels & Resorts’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Host Hotels & Resorts’s payout ratio is presently 76.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Host Hotels & Resorts

In other news, CEO James F. Risoleo sold 28,136 shares of Host Hotels & Resorts stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.04, for a total value of $591,981.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,225,577 shares in the company, valued at $46,826,140.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Host Hotels & Resorts presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.33.

About Host Hotels & Resorts

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc is an S&P 500 company and is the largest lodging real estate investment trust and one of the largest owners of luxury and upper-upscale hotels. The Company currently owns 72 properties in the United States and five properties internationally totaling approximately 42,000 rooms.