Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eight research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $9.31.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SHO. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Sunstone Hotel Investors from $12.00 to $8.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Sunstone Hotel Investors in a report on Monday, June 23rd. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $8.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised Sunstone Hotel Investors from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $10.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI raised Sunstone Hotel Investors from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $10.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Sunstone Hotel Investors from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SHO opened at $8.93 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $8.73 and its 200 day moving average is $9.89. The stock has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.25. Sunstone Hotel Investors has a 1-year low of $7.45 and a 1-year high of $12.41.

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.03. Sunstone Hotel Investors had a return on equity of 1.93% and a net margin of 3.85%. The firm had revenue of $234.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $243.34 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.18 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sunstone Hotel Investors will post 0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Sunstone Hotel Investors’s payout ratio is currently 360.00%.

Institutional Trading of Sunstone Hotel Investors

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 23,323 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 2,381 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 442.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,001 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 2,448 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,156,930 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $49,218,000 after acquiring an additional 74,952 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors during the 4th quarter valued at $1,239,000. Finally, Inceptionr LLC raised its position in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 53.1% during the 4th quarter. Inceptionr LLC now owns 16,529 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $196,000 after purchasing an additional 5,731 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.37% of the company’s stock.

About Sunstone Hotel Investors

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc is a lodging real estate investment trust ("REIT") that as of the date of this release owns 14 hotels comprised of 6,675 rooms, the majority of which are operated under nationally recognized brands. Sunstone's strategy is to create long-term stakeholder value through the acquisition, active ownership, and disposition of well-located hotel and resort real estate.