Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) Short Interest Update

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 39,090,000 shares, a decline of 7.5% from the November 15th total of 42,240,000 shares. Currently, 5.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 7,370,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Host Hotels & Resorts

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,243,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $912,056,000 after purchasing an additional 950,431 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,902,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $331,698,000 after purchasing an additional 180,904 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 66.9% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 13,637,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,017,000 after purchasing an additional 5,466,629 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,300,937 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,296,000 after purchasing an additional 181,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 9,189,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,218,000 after acquiring an additional 965,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Host Hotels & Resorts Price Performance

HST traded up $0.08 during trading on Monday, hitting $18.66. 8,022,335 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,821,755. Host Hotels & Resorts has a 1 year low of $15.71 and a 1 year high of $21.31. The company has a market cap of $13.04 billion, a PE ratio of 18.04 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.69. The company has a current ratio of 2.90, a quick ratio of 2.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last released 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 the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Host Hotels & Resorts had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 12.92%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Host Hotels & Resorts will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s payout ratio is 77.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on HST shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Compass Point upgraded shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $22.00 in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.39.

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.