Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE:PK) Short Interest Up 23.6% in December

Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE:PK) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 20,130,000 shares, an increase of 23.6% from the December 15th total of 16,280,000 shares. Currently, 10.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,260,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.2 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PK. UBS Group upped their price objective on Park Hotels & Resorts from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Park Hotels & Resorts from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Park Hotels & Resorts from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Park Hotels & Resorts from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Park Hotels & Resorts from $17.00 to $16.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.65.

Park Hotels & Resorts Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE PK traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $13.63. 1,908,785 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,290,082. Park Hotels & Resorts has a 1-year low of $13.22 and a 1-year high of $18.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.56. The firm has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.68, a PEG ratio of 5.73 and a beta of 2.02.

Park Hotels & Resorts (NYSE:PK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $649.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $646.15 million. Park Hotels & Resorts had a return on equity of 9.63% and a net margin of 12.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Park Hotels & Resorts will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Park Hotels & Resorts Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 19.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Park Hotels & Resorts’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Park Hotels & Resorts’s payout ratio is 63.69%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Park Hotels & Resorts during the third quarter worth $33,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Park Hotels & Resorts by 281.6% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 2,841 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Park Hotels & Resorts by 82.1% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,857 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Park Hotels & Resorts in the third quarter valued at about $69,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Park Hotels & Resorts by 64.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 6,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Park Hotels & Resorts Company Profile

Park is one of the largest publicly traded lodging REITs with a diverse portfolio of market-leading hotels and resorts with significant underlying real estate value. Park's portfolio currently consists of 43 premium-branded hotels and resorts with over 26,000 rooms primarily located in prime city center and resort locations.