Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) Short Interest Update

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 35,570,000 shares, a decrease of 9.0% from the November 30th total of 39,090,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 7,180,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.0 days. Approximately 5.2% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on HST shares. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Compass Point upgraded Host Hotels & Resorts from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $18.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Host Hotels & Resorts from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.39.

Institutional Trading of Host Hotels & Resorts

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 206,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,708,000 after buying an additional 1,995 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 17.9% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 166,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,997,000 after acquiring an additional 25,352 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the second quarter worth approximately $291,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Host Hotels & Resorts by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 121,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,182,000 after purchasing an additional 20,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nilsine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 48,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,776 shares in the last quarter. 98.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Host Hotels & Resorts Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HST traded down $0.26 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $17.52. 5,422,161 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,839,865. The company has a quick ratio of 2.90, a current ratio of 2.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.70. Host Hotels & Resorts has a twelve month low of $15.71 and a twelve month high of $21.31. The firm has a market cap of $12.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.01 and a beta of 1.32.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Host Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Host Hotels & Resorts will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.57%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s payout ratio is 77.67%.

About Host Hotels & Resorts

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.