Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Purchases 5,300 Shares of Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. boosted its position in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) by 13.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 43,732 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,300 shares during the quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts were worth $766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of HST. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 23.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 606,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,668,000 after purchasing an additional 113,761 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its position in Host Hotels & Resorts by 123.4% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 65,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 36,278 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Host Hotels & Resorts during the third quarter valued at $540,000. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts in the third quarter worth about $4,775,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the third quarter worth about $639,000. Institutional investors own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Host Hotels & Resorts Trading Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ HST opened at $16.08 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 2.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $16.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.47. The company has a market capitalization of $11.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.24 and a beta of 1.30. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.65 and a 12 month high of $21.27.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.37 billion. Host Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 12.26% and a return on equity of 10.37%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.98%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on HST. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.54.

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.