Hilton Worldwide Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:HLT)

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HLT) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 30,892 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,070% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,641 call options.

Institutional Trading of Hilton Worldwide

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Hilton Worldwide by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,115,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,714,938,000 after purchasing an additional 104,802 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Hilton Worldwide by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,898,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,952,314,000 after acquiring an additional 919,424 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Hilton Worldwide by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,225,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,786,151,000 after acquiring an additional 142,620 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Hilton Worldwide by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,910,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,456,893,000 after acquiring an additional 67,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Hilton Worldwide by 8.1% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,836,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,100,530,000 after purchasing an additional 364,307 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.90% of the company’s stock.

Hilton Worldwide Price Performance

Hilton Worldwide stock opened at $246.36 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $228.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $243.61. Hilton Worldwide has a 12 month low of $194.93 and a 12 month high of $275.22. The company has a market cap of $58.56 billion, a PE ratio of 40.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.23.

Hilton Worldwide (NYSE:HLT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $2.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.73 billion. Hilton Worldwide had a net margin of 13.74% and a negative return on equity of 54.47%. Hilton Worldwide’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hilton Worldwide will post 7.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilton Worldwide Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Monday, May 26th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a dividend yield of 0.23%. Hilton Worldwide’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on HLT shares. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $263.00 target price (up from $243.00) on shares of Hilton Worldwide in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $235.00 target price (down from $296.00) on shares of Hilton Worldwide in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Macquarie lowered their target price on Hilton Worldwide from $245.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Hilton Worldwide from $232.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Hilton Worldwide from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $245.56.

Hilton Worldwide Company 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.