Wall Street Zen Upgrades Hilton Grand Vacations (NYSE:HGV) to “Buy”

Hilton Grand Vacations (NYSE:HGV) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

HGV has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Hilton Grand Vacations from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Hilton Grand Vacations from $50.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Hilton Grand Vacations from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Hilton Grand Vacations from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Hilton Grand Vacations from $46.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.10.

Hilton Grand Vacations Stock Performance

Shares of HGV stock opened at $44.09 on Friday. Hilton Grand Vacations has a 52-week low of $33.99 and a 52-week high of $55.40. The company has a quick ratio of 3.35, a current ratio of 5.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a PE ratio of 8.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.60. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.51.

Hilton Grand Vacations (NYSE:HGV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $4.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $2.95. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.39 billion. Hilton Grand Vacations had a return on equity of 39.73% and a net margin of 7.02%. Hilton Grand Vacations’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Hilton Grand Vacations will post 6.38 EPS for the current year.

Hilton Grand Vacations declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, August 20th that allows the company to repurchase $600 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 17% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Hilton Grand Vacations

In related news, insider Charles Corbin, Jr. sold 60,401 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.41, for a total value of $2,622,007.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 47,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,080,380.84. This represents a 55.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Mark Wang purchased 12,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $40.92 per share, for a total transaction of $499,224.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 916,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,511,977.80. This represents a 1.35% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Hilton Grand Vacations during the second quarter worth about $422,842,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Hilton Grand Vacations during the 2nd quarter worth about $12,947,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its position in shares of Hilton Grand Vacations by 690.7% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 41,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,175,000 after purchasing an additional 36,282 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Hilton Grand Vacations during the 2nd quarter worth about $18,750,000. Finally, Parsifal Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Hilton Grand Vacations in the 2nd quarter valued at about $108,863,038. 97.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hilton Grand Vacations Company Profile

Hilton Grand Vacations Inc is a vacation ownership company that develops, markets and operates resorts and sells vacation ownership interests. Its offerings include points-based vacation clubs that let members use their ownership interests to book stays at participating resorts and destinations.

The company serves vacationers through resorts and club offerings in the United States and international destinations, including locations in the Caribbean, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Its portfolio includes properties associated with the Hilton Grand Vacations brand and other vacation ownership brands.

Hilton Grand Vacations became an independent publicly traded company in 2017 after being spun off from Hilton Worldwide.