Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Purchases 1,125,543 Shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO)

Key Points

• Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. by 45.9%, now owning approximately 1.78% of the company valued at $33.7 million.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on Sunstone Hotel Investors, with price targets ranging from $7.00 to $11.00 and an average rating of "Hold".
• Sunstone Hotel Investors reported quarterly earnings of $0.28 per share, surpassing expectations and showing a revenue increase of 5.0% from the previous year.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its holdings in Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO - Free Report) by 45.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,576,897 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 1,125,543 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned about 1.78% of Sunstone Hotel Investors worth $33,659,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new position in Sunstone Hotel Investors during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $190,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 47.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,560 shares during the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors in the first quarter valued at $1,504,000. Waterfront Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors in the fourth quarter worth $2,219,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 260,224 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,081,000 after purchasing an additional 53,740 shares during the last quarter. 99.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SHO. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $10.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors from $9.00 to $8.50 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Sunstone Hotel Investors in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They set an "underweight" rating and a $8.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Sunstone Hotel Investors from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $9.07.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Trading Down 0.7%

SHO stock traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $8.73. 2,385,582 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,872,875. Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.45 and a 52-week high of $12.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 2.73. The business has a 50 day moving average of $8.85 and a 200-day moving average of $9.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 436.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30.

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $259.77 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $256.68 million. Sunstone Hotel Investors had a return on equity of 1.12% and a net margin of 2.15%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Sunstone Hotel Investors's dividend payout ratio is currently 1,800.00%.

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.