Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $196.9286.

Several research firms recently issued reports on H. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Hyatt Hotels from $220.00 to $201.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Hyatt Hotels in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Hyatt Hotels from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Hyatt Hotels from $208.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Hyatt Hotels from $215.00 to $209.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 31st.

Insider Activity

In other Hyatt Hotels news, Director Susan D. Kronick sold 1,119 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.51, for a total transaction of $195,276.69. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 31,225 shares in the company, valued at $5,449,074.75. This represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Peter Sears sold 10,217 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.66, for a total value of $1,896,888.22. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 6,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,183,396.84. This represents a 61.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,224 shares of company stock valued at $4,173,605. 23.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hyatt Hotels

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Hyatt Hotels by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 426,359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,229,000 after buying an additional 29,976 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 143,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,556,000 after acquiring an additional 11,252 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Hyatt Hotels in the 2nd quarter valued at $616,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 394.6% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 17,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,418,000 after acquiring an additional 13,812 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 61.0% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 68,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,609,000 after acquiring an additional 26,073 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.54% of the company’s stock.

Hyatt Hotels Price Performance

Shares of H opened at $179.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $16.85 billion, a PE ratio of 218.29 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $190.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.62. Hyatt Hotels has a twelve month low of $134.00 and a twelve month high of $206.86.

Hyatt Hotels (NYSE:H) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.21. Hyatt Hotels had a net margin of 1.10% and a return on equity of 7.27%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Hyatt Hotels will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hyatt Hotels Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 27th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 27th. Hyatt Hotels’s payout ratio is presently 73.17%.

About Hyatt Hotels

Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) is a global hospitality company that develops, owns, manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts and vacation properties. Its portfolio spans a range of price points and styles under brands such as Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Andaz, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Centric, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Thompson Hotels, Alila and Destination by Hyatt. In addition to accommodations, the company provides meeting and event spaces, food and beverage outlets, spa and wellness centers, and a variety of guest services designed to cater to both leisure and business travelers.

Hyatt’s business model combines property ownership, management contracts and third-party franchising.