AGF Management Ltd. Grows Holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

AGF Management Ltd. raised its position in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 120,984 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,795 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts were worth $2,120,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC increased its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts by 25.7% in the fourth quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC now owns 14,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 2,995 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 15,899,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,554,000 after buying an additional 2,261,877 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts by 65.8% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 1,353,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,719,000 after buying an additional 537,411 shares in the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Host Hotels & Resorts in the fourth quarter valued at $657,000. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,542,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,089,000 after buying an additional 625,317 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Host Hotels & Resorts Stock Up 2.7 %

HST stock opened at $14.91 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.06 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 2.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a 12 month low of $14.47 and a 12 month high of $21.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $16.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.39.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. Host Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 12.26% and a return on equity of 10.37%. As a group, analysts forecast that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.37%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on HST. Stifel Nicolaus cut 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. Compass Point cut shares of Host Hotels & Resorts from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group cut their target price 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. Raymond James cut 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 research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.21.

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.