Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:WH) Short Interest Up 17.7% in May

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:WH - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,720,000 shares, a growth of 17.7% from the April 30th total of 2,310,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,070,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Currently, 3.6% of the company's stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

In other news, CEO Geoffrey A. Ballotti sold 26,650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.56, for a total transaction of $2,306,824.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 461,376 shares in the company, valued at $39,936,706.56. The trade was a 5.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.46% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts by 62.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,086 shares of the company's stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. acquired a new position in Wyndham Hotels & Resorts during the 4th quarter worth approximately $673,000. Sargent Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Wyndham Hotels & Resorts in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Wyndham Hotels & Resorts by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,846 shares of the company's stock valued at $791,000 after buying an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Trust Co. boosted its position in Wyndham Hotels & Resorts by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 9,295 shares of the company's stock valued at $937,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. 93.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Wyndham Hotels & Resorts from $124.00 to $108.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Wyndham Hotels & Resorts from $107.00 to $99.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts from $121.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts from $102.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $108.48.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WH traded down $2.00 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $81.79. The stock had a trading volume of 943,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 862,516. The company's 50-day moving average price is $84.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.43. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has a fifty-two week low of $68.77 and a fifty-two week high of $113.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.72. The company has a market capitalization of $6.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.00.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (NYSE:WH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts had a net margin of 20.51% and a return on equity of 54.86%. The business had revenue of $316.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $320.10 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Wyndham Hotels & Resorts will post 4.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.86%.

About Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc engages in the franchise and operation of hotels under the Wyndham brand. It operates through the Hotel Franchising and Hotel Management segments. The Hotel Franchising segment focuses on licensing the company's lodging brands and providing related services to third-party hotel owners and others.

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