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

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,380,000 shares, a decline of 17.7% from the December 15th total of 12,610,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,720,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.8 days. Approximately 5.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Sunstone Hotel Investors

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 114.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,271 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,743 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 584.1% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,310 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 3,680 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors in the third quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 7,510 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 1,937 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.37% of the company’s stock.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Price Performance

NYSE SHO traded up $0.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $11.74. 1,112,753 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,988,147. Sunstone Hotel Investors has a 1-year low of $9.39 and a 1-year high of $12.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $11.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.69. The company has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a P/E/G ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 1.21.

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.02). Sunstone Hotel Investors had a net margin of 18.61% and a return on equity of 9.04%. The company had revenue of $226.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $224.61 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sunstone Hotel Investors will post 0.79 EPS for the current year.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. Sunstone Hotel Investors’s dividend payout ratio is 44.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on SHO shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $10.00 price target on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Sunstone Hotel Investors from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sunstone Hotel Investors presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.86.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Company Profile

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.