Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (SHO) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 31st

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 13th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.09 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st.

Sunstone Hotel Investors has raised its dividend by an average of 68.7% per year over the last three years. Sunstone Hotel Investors has a dividend payout ratio of 133.3% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Sunstone Hotel Investors to earn $0.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.1%.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE SHO opened at $10.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 3.75. Sunstone Hotel Investors has a fifty-two week low of $9.39 and a fifty-two week high of $11.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.33, a P/E/G ratio of 6.56 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.25.

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.02). Sunstone Hotel Investors had a net margin of 18.61% and a return on equity of 9.04%. The firm had revenue of $226.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $224.61 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. Sunstone Hotel Investors’s quarterly revenue was down 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Sunstone Hotel Investors will post 0.79 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on SHO shares. StockNews.com lowered Sunstone Hotel Investors from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Sunstone Hotel Investors from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $10.50 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, September 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.42.

About Sunstone Hotel Investors

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.