Cetera Trust Company N.A Buys Shares of 13,975 Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 13,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $272,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 116,329,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,260,281,000 after purchasing an additional 1,379,330 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 50,275,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $807,923,000 after purchasing an additional 6,719,578 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,154,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $956,516,000 after purchasing an additional 3,240,590 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the 4th quarter worth about $410,211,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 22,313,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $358,576,000 after purchasing an additional 310,079 shares during the last quarter. 98.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Host Hotels & Resorts Trading Up 0.6 %

HST opened at $18.71 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $20.29 and its 200-day moving average is $18.84. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a 52-week low of $14.92 and a 52-week high of $21.31. The company has a quick ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 3.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.25). The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Host Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 13.93% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.44 EPS. Analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Host Hotels & Resorts’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Host Hotels & Resorts’s payout ratio is 76.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on HST shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Bank of America raised shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price 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 raised their target price 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James F. Risoleo sold 28,136 shares of Host Hotels & Resorts stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,225,577 shares in the company, valued at $46,826,140.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.