Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HLT) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.15

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HLT) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th.

Hilton Worldwide has raised its dividend by an average of 58.7% annually over the last three years. Hilton Worldwide has a payout ratio of 7.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Hilton Worldwide to earn $8.22 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 7.3%.

Hilton Worldwide Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of HLT opened at $204.70 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.27, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.25. Hilton Worldwide has a twelve month low of $134.43 and a twelve month high of $215.79. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $205.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.32.

Hilton Worldwide (NYSE:HLT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. Hilton Worldwide had a net margin of 11.15% and a negative return on equity of 94.46%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Hilton Worldwide will post 7.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hilton Worldwide

In other news, insider Christopher J. Nassetta sold 21,489 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.68, for a total transaction of $4,204,967.52. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,536,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $496,338,015.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HLT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Hilton Worldwide from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Hilton Worldwide from $196.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Hilton Worldwide from $212.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Mizuho reduced their target price on Hilton Worldwide from $245.00 to $242.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Hilton Worldwide from $204.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hilton Worldwide has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.94.

About Hilton Worldwide

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc, a hospitality company, engages in managing, franchising, owning, and leasing hotels and resorts. It operates through two segments, Management and Franchise, and Ownership. The company engages in the hotel management and licensing of its brands. It operates luxury hotels under the Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, LXR Hotels & Resorts, and Conrad Hotels & Resorts brand; lifestyle hotels under the Canopy by Hilton, Curio Collection by Hilton, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, Tempo by Hilton, and Motto by Hilton brand; full service hotels under the Signia by Hilton, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, and DoubleTree by Hilton brand; service hotels under the Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton by Hilton, and Tru by Hilton brand; all-suite hotels under the Embassy Suites by Hilton, Homewood Suites by Hilton, and Home2 Suites by Hilton brand; and economy hotel under the Spark by Hilton brand, as well as Hilton Grand Vacations.