Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST – Get Rating) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.69.

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Compass Point boosted their target price on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $25.00 in a report on Friday, February 18th. Raymond James upgraded Host Hotels & Resorts from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 16th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $20.50 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 18th.

Shares of HST stock traded down $0.12 on Monday, hitting $19.58. The stock had a trading volume of 8,442,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,651,707. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 10.82 and a current ratio of 10.82. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $18.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.57. Host Hotels & Resorts has a one year low of $14.67 and a one year high of $20.25.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 16th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $998.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $898.43 million. Host Hotels & Resorts had a negative return on equity of 0.18% and a negative net margin of 0.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 273.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.02) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Host Hotels & Resorts will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 31st were given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 30th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio is currently -399.87%.

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HST. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 36.1% in the 2nd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,262,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,119,000 after purchasing an additional 1,927,779 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 233.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,792,447 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,264,000 after purchasing an additional 6,156,839 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 45,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $748,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $165,000. Finally, TCW Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 32.3% during the 3rd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 60,966 shares of the company’s stock worth $995,000 after buying an additional 14,896 shares during the period.

About Host Hotels & Resorts (Get Rating)

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc is an S&P 500 company and is the largest lodging real estate investment trust and one of the largest owners of luxury and upper-upscale hotels. The Company currently owns 74 properties in the United States and five properties internationally totaling approximately 46,100 rooms.

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