1,117 Shares in Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HLT) Purchased by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HLT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Hilton Worldwide in the third quarter worth $25,000. Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in Hilton Worldwide in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Hilton Worldwide during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Hilton Worldwide in the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hilton Worldwide by 142.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on HLT. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Hilton Worldwide from $212.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Hilton Worldwide from $196.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Hilton Worldwide from $190.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Hilton Worldwide from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Hilton Worldwide from $216.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hilton Worldwide currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $207.59.

Hilton Worldwide Price Performance

Shares of HLT stock opened at $203.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $50.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.23, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.26. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $205.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $187.68. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $134.43 and a one year high of $215.79.

Hilton Worldwide (NYSE:HLT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. Hilton Worldwide had a negative return on equity of 81.29% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hilton Worldwide Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Hilton Worldwide’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.04%.

Hilton Worldwide Profile

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc, a hospitality company, engages in managing, franchising, owning, and leasing hotels and resorts. It operates through two segments, Management and Franchise, and Ownership. The company engages in the hotel management and licensing of its brands. It operates luxury hotels under the Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, LXR Hotels & Resorts, and Conrad Hotels & Resorts brand; lifestyle hotels under the Canopy by Hilton, Curio Collection by Hilton, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, Tempo by Hilton, and Motto by Hilton brand; full service hotels under the Signia by Hilton, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, and DoubleTree by Hilton brand; service hotels under the Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton by Hilton, and Tru by Hilton brand; all-suite hotels under the Embassy Suites by Hilton, Homewood Suites by Hilton, and Home2 Suites by Hilton brand; and economy hotel under the Spark by Hilton brand, as well as Hilton Grand Vacations.