Quantessence Capital LLC Makes New $370,000 Investment in Hyatt Hotels Co. (NYSE:H)

Quantessence Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Hyatt Hotels Co. (NYSE:H - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,354 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $370,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in H. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 2,801 shares of the company's stock worth $440,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in Hyatt Hotels by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC now owns 13,604 shares of the company's stock worth $2,136,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,341 shares of the company's stock valued at $681,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 99.0% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 209 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in Hyatt Hotels by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,050 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,049,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.54% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Mark R. Vondrasek sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.80, for a total transaction of $1,168,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,337 shares in the company, valued at $1,090,561.60. This represents a 51.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kinsey Wolf sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.95, for a total transaction of $122,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 811 shares in the company, valued at $99,712.45. This represents a 55.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,600 shares of company stock worth $1,517,798 over the last three months. 23.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on H. Macquarie cut their price target on shares of Hyatt Hotels from $172.00 to $165.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Hyatt Hotels from $172.00 to $170.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hyatt Hotels from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, February 17th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Hyatt Hotels from $151.00 to $122.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Hyatt Hotels from $156.75 to $132.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $151.83.

Hyatt Hotels Price Performance

Shares of Hyatt Hotels stock traded down $0.30 on Monday, hitting $112.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 197,424 shares, compared to its average volume of 645,731. The company has a market capitalization of $10.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.03 and a beta of 1.35. Hyatt Hotels Co. has a 52-week low of $102.43 and a 52-week high of $168.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $122.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $144.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Hyatt Hotels (NYSE:H - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.64 by ($0.22). Hyatt Hotels had a net margin of 19.50% and a return on equity of 9.81%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Hyatt Hotels Co. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hyatt Hotels Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Hyatt Hotels's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.82%.

Hyatt Hotels Profile

Hyatt Hotels Corporation operates as a hospitality company in the United States and internationally. It operates through Owned and Leased Hotels, Americas Management and Franchising, ASPAC Management and Franchising, EAME Management and Franchising, and Apple Leisure Group segments. The company manages, franchises, licenses, owns, and leases portfolio of properties, consisting of full-service hotels and resorts, select service hotels, and other properties, including timeshare, fractional, residential, vacation, and condominium units.