Meridian Financial Partners LLC Grows Position in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

Meridian Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 77,830 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 977 shares during the quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts were worth $1,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HST. State Street Corp increased its stake in Host Hotels & Resorts by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,243,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $912,056,000 after purchasing an additional 950,431 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,902,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $331,698,000 after acquiring an additional 180,904 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Host Hotels & Resorts by 66.9% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 13,637,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,017,000 after acquiring an additional 5,466,629 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 1.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,300,937 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,296,000 after purchasing an additional 181,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 20.2% during the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 7,962,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339,458 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Host Hotels & Resorts Stock Up 0.7 %

HST stock opened at $17.28 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 2.90 and a quick ratio of 2.90. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.71 and a 12 month high of $21.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.08 billion, a PE ratio of 16.78 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.64.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.24). The company 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. Equities analysts expect 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HST has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Compass Point upgraded shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $18.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.04.

About Host Hotels & Resorts

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.