Short Interest in Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT) Grows By 18.6%

Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 158,000 shares, a growth of 18.6% from the December 15th total of 133,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 53,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Ashford Hospitality Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Ashford Hospitality Trust Stock Performance

NYSE AHT traded up $0.17 on Friday, hitting $8.82. 14,064 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 47,528. The business’s fifty day moving average is $8.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.55. Ashford Hospitality Trust has a 12 month low of $5.20 and a 12 month high of $20.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.68 and a beta of 2.39.

Ashford Hospitality Trust (NYSE:AHT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The real estate investment trust reported ($12.39) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($12.99). Ashford Hospitality Trust had a negative return on equity of 12.89% and a net margin of 2.84%. The company had revenue of $276.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $273.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.08 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ashford Hospitality Trust will post -0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ashford Hospitality Trust

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ashford Hospitality Trust by 42.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 531,694 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $398,000 after buying an additional 158,882 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Ashford Hospitality Trust by 4.9% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 482,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 22,400 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Ashford Hospitality Trust by 24.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 195,330 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $146,000 after purchasing an additional 38,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC raised its position in Ashford Hospitality Trust by 215.4% during the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 94,025 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 64,212 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.04% of the company’s stock.

About Ashford Hospitality Trust

Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc, together with its subsidiaries (Ashford Trust), is a real estate investment trust (REIT). While our portfolio currently consists of upscale hotels and upper upscale full-service hotels, our investment strategy is predominantly focused on investing in upper upscale full-service hotels in the United States that have revenue per available room (RevPAR) generally less than twice the U.S.