Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 437,433 Shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO - Free Report) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,793,005 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 437,433 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 4.37% of Sunstone Hotel Investors worth $82,742,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SHO. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 442.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,001 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 2,448 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 47.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 1,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 805.2% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 6,409 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 5,701 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on SHO shares. Evercore ISI upgraded Sunstone Hotel Investors from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $10.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Sunstone Hotel Investors from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Sunstone Hotel Investors in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They set an "underweight" rating and a $8.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Sunstone Hotel Investors from $12.00 to $8.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Sunstone Hotel Investors from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $10.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $9.31.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Price Performance

NYSE SHO traded up $0.20 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $9.00. 1,789,224 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,534,759. The company has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. has a 12-month low of $7.45 and a 12-month high of $12.41.

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $234.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $243.34 million. Sunstone Hotel Investors had a return on equity of 1.93% and a net margin of 3.85%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. will post 0.79 EPS for the current year.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Sunstone Hotel Investors's dividend payout ratio is presently 360.00%.

Sunstone Hotel Investors 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.