Hyatt Hotels Co. (NYSE:H) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Hyatt Hotels Co. (NYSE:H) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $151.83.

Several brokerages recently commented on H. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Hyatt Hotels from $151.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Macquarie cut their target price on Hyatt Hotels from $172.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Hyatt Hotels from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Hyatt Hotels from $161.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Hyatt Hotels from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th.

Hyatt Hotels Trading Up 3.6 %

Shares of H opened at $111.07 on Friday. Hyatt Hotels has a fifty-two week low of $102.43 and a fifty-two week high of $168.20. The company has a market capitalization of $10.68 billion, a PE ratio of 8.93 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $124.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $144.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Hyatt Hotels (NYSE:H) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by ($0.22). Hyatt Hotels had a return on equity of 9.81% and a net margin of 19.50%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Hyatt Hotels will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Hyatt Hotels Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Hyatt Hotels’s payout ratio is 4.82%.

Insider Transactions at Hyatt Hotels

In other Hyatt Hotels news, insider Mark R. Vondrasek sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.80, for a total transaction of $1,168,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,337 shares in the company, valued at $1,090,561.60. The trade was a 51.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Susan D. Kronick sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.78, for a total transaction of $226,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 37,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,377,290.06. The trade was a 4.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,600 shares of company stock valued at $1,517,798. 23.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hyatt Hotels

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bamco Inc. NY grew its stake in Hyatt Hotels by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 5,550,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $871,363,000 after buying an additional 67,385 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,849,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $447,376,000 after acquiring an additional 9,477 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Hyatt Hotels by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,694,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $422,960,000 after purchasing an additional 46,413 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in Hyatt Hotels by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,716,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,532,000 after purchasing an additional 37,057 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 241.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 679,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,677,000 after purchasing an additional 480,523 shares during the period. 73.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Hyatt Hotels

Hyatt Hotels Corporation operates as a hospitality company in the United States and internationally. It operates through Owned and Leased Hotels, Americas Management and Franchising, ASPAC Management and Franchising, EAME Management and Franchising, and Apple Leisure Group segments. The company manages, franchises, licenses, owns, and leases portfolio of properties, consisting of full-service hotels and resorts, select service hotels, and other properties, including timeshare, fractional, residential, vacation, and condominium units.