Host Hotels & Resorts Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:HST)

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders bought 2,511 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 93% compared to the typical volume of 1,303 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HST has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Host Hotels & Resorts from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.21.

Institutional Trading of Host Hotels & Resorts

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 34.4% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 20,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,000 after buying an additional 5,124 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 14.6% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 41,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $855,000 after purchasing an additional 5,280 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 23.9% during the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 204,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,224,000 after purchasing an additional 39,340 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 882,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,247,000 after buying an additional 34,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,300,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,885,000 after buying an additional 152,337 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Host Hotels & Resorts Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of HST stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $17.48. The company had a trading volume of 1,891,350 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,784,945. The company has a market capitalization of $12.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 4.55 and a current ratio of 2.90. Host Hotels & Resorts has a twelve month low of $15.71 and a twelve month high of $21.31. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.72.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.24). Host Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Host Hotels & Resorts will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.