Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stake in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST - Free Report) by 24.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,951,050 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,504,322 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 1.14% of Host Hotels & Resorts worth $139,302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Host Hotels & Resorts during the fourth quarter worth about $375,000. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in Host Hotels & Resorts in the 4th quarter valued at $1,457,000. Vert Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 309,446 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,421,000 after purchasing an additional 26,678 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts by 716.4% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,841 shares of the company's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 2,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Host Hotels & Resorts by 155.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,610,981 shares of the company's stock valued at $98,305,000 after acquiring an additional 3,412,589 shares during the last quarter. 98.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on HST shares. Citigroup cut their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Compass Point downgraded shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $14.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $19.17.

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Host Hotels & Resorts Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ:HST traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $13.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,362,775 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,916,987. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.84. 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 1 year low of $12.22 and a 1 year high of $20.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.75 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Host Hotels & Resorts Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.88%. Host Hotels & Resorts's dividend payout ratio is currently 80.81%.

Host Hotels & Resorts 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.