Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Takes $540,000 Position in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 30,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $540,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HST. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,501,000. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Host Hotels & Resorts by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 478,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,413,000 after purchasing an additional 33,274 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in Host Hotels & Resorts by 123.4% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 65,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 36,278 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 27,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waterfront Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Host Hotels & Resorts in the third quarter valued at $11,527,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HST. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Host Hotels & Resorts from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Host Hotels & Resorts presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.39.

Host Hotels & Resorts Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of HST opened at $18.94 on Tuesday. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.71 and a twelve month high of $21.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.90, a quick ratio of 2.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.39 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $17.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.67.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Host Hotels & Resorts had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 12.92%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.67%.

Host Hotels & Resorts Profile

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 72 properties in the United States and five properties internationally totaling approximately 42,000 rooms.