Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Acquires 44,242 Shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 989,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 44,242 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned about 0.49% of Sunstone Hotel Investors worth $10,207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SHO. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 976.5% during the 3rd quarter. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC now owns 1,238,002 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,776,000 after buying an additional 1,123,001 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors during the 3rd quarter valued at about $519,000. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,459,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 460.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,414,372 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,596,000 after buying an additional 1,161,792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 7.1% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 67,830 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 4,492 shares in the last quarter. 99.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $10.50 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, September 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sunstone Hotel Investors has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.42.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Price Performance

Shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors stock opened at $12.07 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.28 and a beta of 1.25. Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. has a one year low of $9.39 and a one year high of $12.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.30.

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $226.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $224.61 million. Sunstone Hotel Investors had a net margin of 18.61% and a return on equity of 9.04%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.23 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. will post 0.79 EPS for the current year.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Sunstone Hotel Investors’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.74%.

About Sunstone Hotel Investors

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc is a lodging real estate investment trust ("REIT") that as of the date of this release owns 14 hotels comprised of 6,675 rooms, the majority of which are operated under nationally recognized brands. Sunstone's strategy is to create long-term stakeholder value through the acquisition, active ownership, and disposition of well-located hotel and resort real estate.