Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) Short Interest Down 7.6% in October

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 37,800,000 shares, a decrease of 7.6% from the October 15th total of 40,920,000 shares. Approximately 5.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 7,600,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Host Hotels & Resorts

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HST. BROOKFIELD Corp ON purchased a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 212.7% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,473 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 44.5% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 867 shares during the period. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the second quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on HST shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Host Hotels & Resorts presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.21.

Host Hotels & Resorts Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of HST opened at $17.41 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $12.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 2.90 and a quick ratio of 4.55. Host Hotels & Resorts has a 1 year low of $15.71 and a 1 year high of $21.31.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Host Hotels & Resorts had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 12.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Host Hotels & Resorts will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.67%.

Host Hotels & Resorts Company Profile

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.