Blue Trust Inc. Sells 6,779 Shares of Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

Blue Trust Inc. lowered its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) by 63.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,917 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,779 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts were worth $69,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of HST. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 537.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,893,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,318,000 after purchasing an additional 5,811,722 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 66.9% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 13,637,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,017,000 after purchasing an additional 5,466,629 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 155.2% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,610,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,305,000 after purchasing an additional 3,412,589 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 92.9% in the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,764,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,652,000 after purchasing an additional 1,331,407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,243,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $912,056,000 after purchasing an additional 950,431 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HST shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Host Hotels & Resorts has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.54.

Host Hotels & Resorts Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of Host Hotels & Resorts stock opened at $16.34 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 2.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.71 and a 12-month high of $21.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.49.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. Host Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 12.26% and a return on equity of 10.37%. Analysts predict that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.88 EPS for the current year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.81%.

Host Hotels & Resorts Company 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.