Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.09 (NYSE:SHO)

Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.09 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st.

Sunstone Hotel Investors has a dividend payout ratio of 120.0% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Sunstone Hotel Investors to earn $0.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.1%.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Price Performance

Shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors stock opened at $10.50 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.81, a PEG ratio of 4.52 and a beta of 1.20. Sunstone Hotel Investors has a 1-year low of $9.39 and a 1-year high of $12.41.

Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $214.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.17 million. Sunstone Hotel Investors had a net margin of 18.61% and a return on equity of 9.04%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Sunstone Hotel Investors will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SHO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $10.00 target price on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sunstone Hotel Investors has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.71.

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.