Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 142,100 Shares of Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

Victory Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,117,894 shares of the company’s stock after selling 142,100 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.30% of Host Hotels & Resorts worth $37,106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 537.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,893,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,318,000 after purchasing an additional 5,811,722 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 66.9% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 13,637,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,017,000 after purchasing an additional 5,466,629 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts by 155.2% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,610,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,305,000 after buying an additional 3,412,589 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its stake in Host Hotels & Resorts by 92.9% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,764,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,652,000 after buying an additional 1,331,407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 51,243,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $912,056,000 after buying an additional 950,431 shares during the period. 98.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on HST. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group lowered 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.54.

Host Hotels & Resorts Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of HST stock opened at $16.33 on Monday. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.65 and a fifty-two week high of $21.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.42 billion, a PE ratio of 16.49 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 2.90 and a current ratio of 1.91. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.47.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.29. Host Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 12.26% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. Equities analysts expect that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Host Hotels & Resorts’s payout ratio is 80.81%.

About Host Hotels & Resorts

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.