Prudential Financial Inc. Has $58.59 Million Stake in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) by 75.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,344,171 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,432,772 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.48% of Host Hotels & Resorts worth $58,590,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. National Pension Service bought a new stake in Host Hotels & Resorts in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 202.6% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Host Hotels & Resorts by 94.9% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 2,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 991 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Host Hotels & Resorts in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Eastern Bank bought a new position in Host Hotels & Resorts during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HST. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Compass Point lowered Host Hotels & Resorts from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley raised Host Hotels & Resorts from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $16.00 to $15.00 in a report on Friday. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Host Hotels & Resorts has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.54.

Host Hotels & Resorts Price Performance

HST opened at $15.02 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 2.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.17 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.29. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a one year low of $14.25 and a one year high of $20.98.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Host Hotels & Resorts had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 12.26%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.33%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.81%.

Host Hotels & Resorts Profile

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the management of luxury and upper-upscale hotels. It operates through the following geographical segments: United States, Brazil, and Canada. The company was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Bethesda, MD.