Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.20 (NASDAQ:HST)

Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:HST) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.77%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st.

Host Hotels & Resorts has a payout ratio of 130.4% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Host Hotels & Resorts to earn $1.94 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 61.9%.

Host Hotels & Resorts Price Performance

Host Hotels & Resorts stock opened at $16.77 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $17.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.47. Host Hotels & Resorts has a one year low of $15.71 and a one year high of $21.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 2.90 and a quick ratio of 2.90. The firm has a market cap of $11.72 billion, a PE ratio of 16.93 and a beta of 1.30.

Host Hotels & Resorts (NASDAQ:HST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.29. Host Hotels & Resorts had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 12.26%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Host Hotels & Resorts will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on HST shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Host Hotels & Resorts from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Host Hotels & Resorts from $21.00 to $20.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Host Hotels & Resorts from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James reduced their target price on Host Hotels & Resorts from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Host Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Host Hotels & Resorts has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.54.

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.