Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) Holdings Boosted by Aurora Investment Counsel

Aurora Investment Counsel grew its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) by 5.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 101,313 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,005 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts were worth $1,783,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of HST. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 3.0% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 618 shares during the period. D Orazio & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 10,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $197,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 4.9% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 16,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,000 after acquiring an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 3.0% during the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 27,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $568,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Host Hotels & Resorts Price Performance

NASDAQ HST opened at $17.42 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.68. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.71 and a twelve month high of $21.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.18 billion, a PE ratio of 16.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 2.90 and a current ratio of 2.90.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.59%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HST has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Host Hotels & Resorts from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.21.

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.