Kentucky Retirement Systems Decreases Stock Position in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its stake in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 48,936 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,194 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts were worth $861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings 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 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 worth $197,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 4.9% during the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 27,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $568,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Host Hotels & Resorts Price Performance

Shares of HST opened at $17.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $12.11 billion, a PE ratio of 16.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.90, a quick ratio of 2.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.68. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.71 and a 1-year high of $21.31.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last announced its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Host Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 10.72%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. On average, equities 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.62%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on HST. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Host Hotels & Resorts from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a 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 report on Friday, November 15th. Compass Point raised Host Hotels & Resorts from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Host Hotels & Resorts 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.