Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $11.42.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Sunstone Hotel Investors from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $10.50 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com cut Sunstone Hotel Investors from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Sunstone Hotel Investors from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $12.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 6.2% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 20,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,215 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 3.9% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 34,553 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 5.5% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 31,119 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 12.1% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 17,479 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $184,000 after purchasing an additional 1,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 6.1% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 41,451 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 2,388 shares in the last quarter. 99.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Price Performance

NYSE:SHO opened at $10.23 on Wednesday. Sunstone Hotel Investors has a 12 month low of $9.03 and a 12 month high of $11.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.34. The company has a current ratio of 3.75, a quick ratio of 3.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.25.

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.16). Sunstone Hotel Investors had a return on equity of 9.75% and a net margin of 19.51%. The firm had revenue of $247.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $248.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.33 earnings per share. Sunstone Hotel Investors’s quarterly revenue was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Sunstone Hotel Investors will post 0.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Sunstone Hotel Investors’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

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.