Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,003,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,586,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.14% of Host Hotels & Resorts at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts by 23.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 606,122 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,668,000 after purchasing an additional 113,761 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts by 123.4% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 65,681 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 36,278 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Host Hotels & Resorts in the third quarter valued at approximately $540,000. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Host Hotels & Resorts in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,775,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in Host Hotels & Resorts during the fourth quarter worth approximately $375,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.52% of the company's stock.

Host Hotels & Resorts Stock Performance

Shares of Host Hotels & Resorts stock traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $15.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,699,273 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,018,947. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $16.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 2.90 and a current ratio of 1.91. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a one year low of $14.47 and a one year high of $21.27. The stock has a market cap of $10.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.22 and a beta of 1.30.

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Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.29. Host Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 12.26% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.31%. Host Hotels & Resorts's payout ratio is currently 80.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HST has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $20.12.

Host Hotels & Resorts Company Profile

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the management of luxury and upper-upscale hotels. It operates through the following geographical segments: United States, Brazil, and Canada. The company was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Bethesda, MD.