4,925,307 Shares in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) Purchased by Nuveen LLC

Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 4,925,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,989,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HST. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 185,200.0% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,852 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 696.3% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 2,047 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 28.4% in the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 807 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 80.1% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC acquired a new stake in Host Hotels & Resorts in the 1st quarter valued at about $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on HST shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $16.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $17.00 to $18.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.50.

Host Hotels & Resorts Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:HST opened at $16.10 on Thursday. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a one year low of $12.22 and a one year high of $19.36. The company has a 50 day moving average of $15.91 and a 200-day moving average of $15.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20. The stock has a market cap of $11.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.13 and a beta of 1.34.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. Host Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 11.12% and a return on equity of 9.90%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. Host Hotels & Resorts’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.11%.

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.