Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) Plans $0.20 Quarterly Dividend

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st.

Host Hotels & Resorts has a payout ratio of 130.4% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Host Hotels & Resorts to earn $1.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.2%.

Host Hotels & Resorts Price Performance

Host Hotels & Resorts stock traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $16.77. 14,540,060 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,778,155. The company has a quick ratio of 2.90, a current ratio of 2.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Host Hotels & Resorts has a 12-month low of $15.71 and a 12-month high of $21.31. The company has a market cap of $11.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $17.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.47.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.29. Host Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.37 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Host Hotels & Resorts will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on HST. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.54.

Host Hotels & Resorts Company Profile

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the management of luxury and upper-upscale hotels. It operates through the following geographical segments: United States, Brazil, and Canada. The company was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Bethesda, MD.