Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Increases Stock Position in Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) by 61.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 662,269 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 251,112 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Host Hotels & Resorts were worth $12,894,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY bought a new position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,873,000. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 18.7% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 20,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 3,182 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 97,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after purchasing an additional 3,601 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Host Hotels & Resorts by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,460,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,478,000 after buying an additional 42,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Host Hotels & Resorts in the 4th quarter worth $587,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised Host Hotels & Resorts from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $18.00 to $23.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.33.

Host Hotels & Resorts Trading Up 1.5 %

HST traded up $0.29 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $19.29. The company had a trading volume of 2,480,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,935,746. The stock has a market cap of $13.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.38, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.86. Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has a 52 week low of $14.92 and a 52 week high of $21.31. The company has a quick ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 3.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.25). The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Host Hotels & Resorts had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 13.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.44 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Host Hotels & Resorts Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Host Hotels & Resorts’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. Host Hotels & Resorts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James F. Risoleo sold 28,136 shares of Host Hotels & Resorts stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.04, for a total transaction of $591,981.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,225,577 shares in the company, valued at $46,826,140.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Host Hotels & Resorts

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc is an S&P 500 company and is the largest lodging real estate investment trust and one of the largest owners of luxury and upper-upscale hotels. The Company currently owns 72 properties in the United States and five properties internationally totaling approximately 42,000 rooms.