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

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) saw a significant drop in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 37,800,000 shares, a drop of 7.6% from the October 15th total of 40,920,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,600,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.0 days. Currently, 5.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HST. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Evercore ISI lowered 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 research report on Tuesday, August 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.21.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Host Hotels & Resorts

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HST. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 34.4% in the 1st 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. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 644,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,344,000 after purchasing an additional 55,654 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 333.7% during the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 59,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,222,000 after purchasing an additional 45,453 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 252,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,222,000 after purchasing an additional 42,037 shares during the last quarter. 98.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Host Hotels & Resorts Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HST opened at $17.26 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $17.72 and a 200 day moving average of $17.69. The stock has a market cap of $12.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.32. Host Hotels & Resorts has a 12 month low of $15.71 and a 12 month high of $21.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.90, a quick ratio of 4.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last released 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 company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Host Hotels & Resorts will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.63%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s payout ratio is 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.