Hyatt Hotels Co. (NYSE:H) Short Interest Down 13.4% in March

Hyatt Hotels Co. (NYSE:H) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,750,000 shares, a decline of 13.4% from the March 15th total of 4,330,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 703,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.3 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Traubert Foundation Pritzker sold 704,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.97, for a total transaction of $111,247,055.13. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Hyatt Hotels news, insider Traubert Foundation Pritzker sold 704,229 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.97, for a total value of $111,247,055.13. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder F.L.P. Trust #14 sold 1,283,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.96, for a total transaction of $200,096,680.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,077,803 shares of company stock valued at $325,526,849 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 23.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,469,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $361,847,000 after purchasing an additional 37,317 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,405,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $313,673,000 after acquiring an additional 148,804 shares in the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its stake in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 196.2% in the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,206,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,697,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461,693 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,194,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,836,000 after acquiring an additional 24,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,168,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,412,000 after acquiring an additional 275,503 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.02% of the company’s stock.

Hyatt Hotels Price Performance

H stock traded down $2.29 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $149.71. The stock had a trading volume of 492,507 shares, compared to its average volume of 688,482. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $150.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $129.58. Hyatt Hotels has a 52 week low of $96.77 and a 52 week high of $161.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.39, a P/E/G ratio of 21.79 and a beta of 1.49.

Hyatt Hotels (NYSE:H) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.26. Hyatt Hotels had a net margin of 3.30% and a return on equity of 7.59%. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hyatt Hotels will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

Hyatt Hotels Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Hyatt Hotels’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

H has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Hyatt Hotels from $95.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Hyatt Hotels from $116.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Hyatt Hotels from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $156.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Hyatt Hotels from $104.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Hyatt Hotels from $143.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $140.53.

About Hyatt Hotels

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.