Aurora Investment Counsel Boosts Holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. $HST

Aurora Investment Counsel grew its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) by 17.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 127,043 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,590 shares during the quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts were worth $1,951,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HST. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Host Hotels & Resorts in the first quarter worth about $69,989,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Host Hotels & Resorts by 1,607.3% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,083,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,810,000 after buying an additional 2,902,471 shares in the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Host Hotels & Resorts in the first quarter worth about $38,611,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Host Hotels & Resorts by 11.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 25,058,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,088,000 after buying an additional 2,503,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Host Hotels & Resorts by 172.0% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,600,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,960,000 after buying an additional 1,644,843 shares in the last quarter. 98.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Host Hotels & Resorts Stock Up 1.3%

NASDAQ:HST opened at $16.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.54 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.20. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $12.22 and a fifty-two week high of $19.36. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.80.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last released 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 net margin of 11.12% and a return on equity of 9.90%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.57 EPS. Host Hotels & Resorts’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Host Hotels & Resorts has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.980-2.020 EPS. Analysts predict that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Host Hotels & Resorts’s payout ratio is presently 85.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HST. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Host Hotels & Resorts to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $16.00 price target for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $19.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Host Hotels & Resorts presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.88.

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.