GAMMA Investing LLC Invests $87,000 in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 15.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 50,275,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $807,923,000 after acquiring an additional 6,719,578 shares during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY acquired a new position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,873,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts in the third quarter worth approximately $28,456,000. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 36.1% in the third quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 5,971,513 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,963,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,874 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 105.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,884,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,351,000 after acquiring an additional 1,478,591 shares during the period. 98.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. UBS Group dropped their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Bank of America raised Host Hotels & Resorts from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $18.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.33.

Host Hotels & Resorts Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HST opened at $19.19 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 3.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.92 and a twelve month high of $21.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $20.23 and its 200-day moving average is $18.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.45, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.31.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.25). Host Hotels & Resorts had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 13.93%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. This is an increase from Host Hotels & Resorts’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio is 76.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James F. Risoleo sold 28,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.04, for a total transaction of $591,981.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,225,577 shares in the company, valued at $46,826,140.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Host Hotels & Resorts Profile

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.