Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 116,058 Shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,120,710 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 116,058 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Sunstone Hotel Investors were worth $11,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors in the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 584.1% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,310 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 3,680 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors in the first quarter worth $49,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors during the 2nd quarter valued at $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on SHO shares. StockNews.com lowered Sunstone Hotel Investors from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Sunstone Hotel Investors from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $10.50 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.42.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of SHO opened at $10.10 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.25. Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. has a 1 year low of $9.39 and a 1 year high of $11.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 3.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 1.25.

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $226.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $224.61 million. Sunstone Hotel Investors had a net margin of 18.61% and a return on equity of 9.04%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. will post 0.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. Sunstone Hotel Investors’s payout ratio is 42.11%.

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.