Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) Shares Bought by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO - Free Report) by 645.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,355,572 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 7,234,862 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 4.16% of Sunstone Hotel Investors worth $98,929,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SHO. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 114.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,271 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 1,743 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors in the third quarter valued at about $59,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 34.8% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 7,510 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 1,937 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 55.4% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,118 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 3,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Longboard Asset Management LP bought a new stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors in the fourth quarter valued at about $141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $10.00 target price on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Sunstone Hotel Investors from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Sunstone Hotel Investors from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $11.71.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Price Performance

SHO traded down $0.67 during trading on Friday, reaching $10.64. The stock had a trading volume of 2,175,765 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,673,953. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.52 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. has a 1-year low of $9.39 and a 1-year high of $12.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $11.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.86.

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $214.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.17 million. Sunstone Hotel Investors had a return on equity of 9.04% and a net margin of 18.61%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. will post 0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Profile

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc is a lodging real estate investment trust ("REIT") that as of the date of this release owns 14 hotels comprised of 6,675 rooms, the majority of which are operated under nationally recognized brands. Sunstone's strategy is to create long-term stakeholder value through the acquisition, active ownership, and disposition of well-located hotel and resort real estate.