ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Makes New Investment in Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. $SHO

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 11,953 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $104,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 47.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,560 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors by 62.7% in the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,882 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,881 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new position in Sunstone Hotel Investors during the first quarter valued at $82,000. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in Sunstone Hotel Investors in the first quarter worth $120,000. Finally, DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors in the first quarter valued at $121,000. 99.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SHO. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Sunstone Hotel Investors from $9.00 to $8.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors in a report on Monday, June 23rd. They set an “underweight” rating and a $8.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.93.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Stock Down 0.1%

SHO stock opened at $9.33 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.95. Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. has a twelve month low of $7.45 and a twelve month high of $12.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion, a PE ratio of 466.48, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $259.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $256.68 million. Sunstone Hotel Investors had a net margin of 2.15% and a return on equity of 1.12%. Sunstone Hotel Investors’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. will post 0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Sunstone Hotel Investors’s dividend payout ratio is presently 1,800.00%.

About Sunstone Hotel Investors

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.