Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) Short Interest Update

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,770,000 shares, a growth of 20.6% from the June 30th total of 10,590,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,680,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.6 days. Currently, 6.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SHO. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird raised Sunstone Hotel Investors from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $12.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Wolfe Research raised Sunstone Hotel Investors from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $12.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Compass Point upgraded Sunstone Hotel Investors from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on Sunstone Hotel Investors from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sunstone Hotel Investors

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SHO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,326,254 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $360,114,000 after acquiring an additional 115,899 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,860,281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $84,341,000 after buying an additional 89,211 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,906,158 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $41,913,000 after buying an additional 88,949 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 313.8% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,873,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,565,000 after buying an additional 2,937,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,281,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,209,000 after buying an additional 236,708 shares in the last quarter. 99.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Price Performance

Shares of SHO traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $10.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,848,259 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,244,260. The company has a current ratio of 8.17, a quick ratio of 8.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Sunstone Hotel Investors has a 1-year low of $8.61 and a 1-year high of $11.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.59.

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $217.17 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $212.00 million. Sunstone Hotel Investors had a return on equity of 10.75% and a net margin of 20.69%. Analysts predict that Sunstone Hotel Investors will post 0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This is a positive change from Sunstone Hotel Investors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Sunstone Hotel Investors’s payout ratio is 33.33%.

About Sunstone Hotel Investors

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc is a lodging real estate investment trust ("REIT") that as of the date of this release owns 14 hotels comprised of 6,675 rooms, the majority of which are operated under nationally recognized brands. Sunstone's strategy is to create long-term stakeholder value through the acquisition, active ownership, and disposition of well-located hotel and resort real estate.