Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:WH) Short Interest Update

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:WH) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,170,000 shares, an increase of 37.8% from the January 31st total of 2,300,000 shares. Currently, 4.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 746,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Forum Financial Management LP bought a new position in Wyndham Hotels & Resorts in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $232,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in Wyndham Hotels & Resorts by 71.4% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 49,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,001,000 after purchasing an additional 20,670 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Wyndham Hotels & Resorts by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,301,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $231,947,000 after purchasing an additional 37,832 shares during the last quarter. Castleark Management LLC bought a new position in Wyndham Hotels & Resorts in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,556,000. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new position in Wyndham Hotels & Resorts in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Institutional investors own 93.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts from $99.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts from $105.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts from $80.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $116.45.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WH traded down $1.78 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $104.43. 1,017,173 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 772,075. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.72, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $8.12 billion, a PE ratio of 28.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $93.41. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has a 1-year low of $67.67 and a 1-year high of $113.07.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (NYSE:WH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.04. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 20.51% and a return on equity of 54.86%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Wyndham Hotels & Resorts will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.87%.

About Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc engages in the franchise and operation of hotels under the Wyndham brand. It operates through the following segments: Hotel Franchising, Hotel Management, and Corporate and Other. The Hotel Franchising segment focuses on licensing the company’s lodging brands and providing related services to third-party hotel owners and others.