Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Acquires 188,876 Shares of Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) by 77.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 432,030 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 188,876 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts were worth $6,139,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HST. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts by 184.7% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 9,752,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,855,000 after purchasing an additional 6,326,709 shares during the last quarter. Rush Island Management LP bought a new position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the 4th quarter valued at $99,402,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 24.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 22,555,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $395,171,000 after buying an additional 4,460,468 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 43.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,752,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,947,000 after acquiring an additional 4,158,219 shares during the period. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 50,002,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $876,115,000 after acquiring an additional 3,932,928 shares during the period. 98.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on HST. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $17.00 to $18.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $16.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $20.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.88.

Host Hotels & Resorts Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HST opened at $15.30 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $10.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28 and a beta of 1.34. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a 52-week low of $12.22 and a 52-week high of $19.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $15.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.47.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. Host Hotels & Resorts had a return on equity of 9.90% and a net margin of 11.12%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.2%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s payout ratio is presently 85.11%.

Host Hotels & Resorts Company Profile

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the management of luxury and upper-upscale hotels. It operates through the following geographical segments: United States, Brazil, and Canada. The company was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Bethesda, MD.