Hilton Grand Vacations (NYSE:HGV) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hilton Grand Vacations (NYSE:HGV) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on HGV. Citigroup cut shares of Hilton Grand Vacations from a “market outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Hilton Grand Vacations from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Hilton Grand Vacations from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Hilton Grand Vacations from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Hilton Grand Vacations from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hilton Grand Vacations has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.10.

Hilton Grand Vacations Stock Performance

Shares of Hilton Grand Vacations stock opened at $44.66 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.29, a current ratio of 5.15 and a quick ratio of 3.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $37.57 and a 200 day moving average of $44.50. Hilton Grand Vacations has a 12 month low of $33.99 and a 12 month high of $55.40.

Hilton Grand Vacations (NYSE:HGV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $4.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $2.95. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.39 billion. Hilton Grand Vacations had a net margin of 7.02% and a return on equity of 39.73%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hilton Grand Vacations will post 6.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Hilton Grand Vacations declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, August 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $600 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 17% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Charles R. Jr. Corbin sold 60,401 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.41, for a total transaction of $2,622,007.41. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 47,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,080,380.84. This represents a 55.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Mark D. Wang bought 12,200 shares of Hilton Grand Vacations stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $40.92 per share, for a total transaction of $499,224.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 916,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,511,977.80. This represents a 1.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hilton Grand Vacations

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of HGV. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Hilton Grand Vacations during the 2nd quarter worth $422,842,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Hilton Grand Vacations by 1.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,869,731 shares of the company’s stock valued at $151,375,000 after buying an additional 60,624 shares during the last quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Hilton Grand Vacations in the second quarter valued at $108,863,038. TrinityBridge Ltd acquired a new stake in Hilton Grand Vacations in the second quarter valued at $52,540,000. Finally, Iridian Asset Management LLC CT raised its stake in Hilton Grand Vacations by 54.5% in the third quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT now owns 711,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,666,000 after buying an additional 251,068 shares in the last quarter. 97.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hilton Grand Vacations Company Profile

Hilton Grand Vacations Inc is a vacation ownership company that develops, markets and operates resorts and sells vacation ownership interests. Its offerings include points-based vacation clubs that let members use their ownership interests to book stays at participating resorts and destinations.

The company serves vacationers through resorts and club offerings in the United States and international destinations, including locations in the Caribbean, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Its portfolio includes properties associated with the Hilton Grand Vacations brand and other vacation ownership brands.

Hilton Grand Vacations became an independent publicly traded company in 2017 after being spun off from Hilton Worldwide.