California Public Employees Retirement System Raises Holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) by 82.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,659,005 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,198,013 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.38% of Host Hotels & Resorts worth $51,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in Host Hotels & Resorts during the 4th quarter worth about $272,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 182,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,547,000 after acquiring an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 222.4% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,699 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 44,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $869,000 after acquiring an additional 1,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 337,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,562,000 after acquiring an additional 57,336 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Raymond James upped their target price on Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Host Hotels & Resorts from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised Host Hotels & Resorts from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $18.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.33.

Host Hotels & Resorts Stock Performance

Shares of HST stock opened at $18.89 on Friday. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a 12-month low of $14.92 and a 12-month high of $21.31. The company has a market cap of $13.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.88. The company has a current ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 3.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.25). Host Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 13.93% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is a boost from Host Hotels & Resorts’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio is 76.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Host Hotels & Resorts

In other Host Hotels & Resorts news, CEO James F. Risoleo sold 28,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.04, for a total transaction of $591,981.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,225,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,826,140.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Host Hotels & Resorts Company Profile

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.