Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) Stock Position Cut by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) by 95.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,519 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,247,106 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Sunstone Hotel Investors were worth $598,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 35.1% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 359,284 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,550,000 after purchasing an additional 93,336 shares in the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 323.5% during the 1st quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 16,008 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 12,228 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Preferred LLC bought a new position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,959,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 72.3% during the 1st quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,235 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 11,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 219,502 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,120,000 after purchasing an additional 24,894 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors from $9.50 to $11.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 12th. Compass Point reduced their price objective on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 8th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors in a research note on Saturday, August 19th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $9.86.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:SHO opened at $9.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.86. Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.60 and a 52 week high of $11.62. The company has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 1.54.

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.12). Sunstone Hotel Investors had a return on equity of 5.64% and a net margin of 10.13%. The firm had revenue of $276.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.58 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 16th. Investors of record on Friday, September 29th will be given a $0.07 dividend. This is a boost from Sunstone Hotel Investors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 28th. Sunstone Hotel Investors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.62%.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Profile

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc is a lodging real estate investment trust ("REIT") that as of the date of this release owns 15 hotels comprised of 7,735 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 hotels considered to be Long-Term Relevant Real Estate.