Retirement Systems of Alabama Trims Stake in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 590,746 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,423 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts were worth $11,502,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY purchased a new position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the fourth quarter worth about $38,873,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 61.1% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 662,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,894,000 after purchasing an additional 251,112 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the fourth quarter worth $87,000. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 20,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $324,000 after buying an additional 3,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Host Hotels & Resorts by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 97,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after buying an additional 3,601 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Raymond James raised their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Host Hotels & Resorts has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.33.

Host Hotels & Resorts Price Performance

HST stock opened at $18.84 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.98. 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 released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.32 billion during 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%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This is a positive change from Host Hotels & Resorts’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Host Hotels & Resorts’s payout ratio is currently 76.92%.

Insider Transactions at Host Hotels & Resorts

In other news, CEO James F. Risoleo sold 28,136 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,225,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,826,140.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.