Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. $SHO

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 2.2%, selling 684,320 shares, and now owns approximately 15.20% of the company, valued at around $287.85 million.
• Sunstone Hotel Investors recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.28, surpassing estimates, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.09 to be paid on October 15th.
• Equities analysts have mixed views on Sunstone, with target prices ranging from $7.00 to $11.00, reflecting varying expectations for the stock's performance in the market.

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO - Free Report) by 2.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,590,217 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 684,320 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 15.20% of Sunstone Hotel Investors worth $287,854,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,793,005 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $82,742,000 after buying an additional 437,433 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,567,535 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $77,760,000 after buying an additional 1,229,769 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in Sunstone Hotel Investors in the 1st quarter valued at $42,838,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its position in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 45.9% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 3,576,897 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $33,659,000 after buying an additional 1,125,543 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,159,408 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $37,407,000 after buying an additional 538,089 shares during the last quarter. 99.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on SHO shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Sunstone Hotel Investors from $9.00 to $8.50 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Bank of America raised 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Sunstone Hotel Investors in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. They set an "underweight" rating and a $8.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Sunstone Hotel Investors from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sunstone Hotel Investors presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $9.07.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE SHO traded up $0.0550 on Thursday, reaching $9.0950. The company had a trading volume of 813,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,381,004. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 455.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.30. Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.45 and a fifty-two week high of $12.41. The business has a 50 day moving average of $8.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

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

Sunstone Hotel Investors Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Sunstone Hotel Investors's payout ratio is presently 1,800.00%.

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.