5 Stocks to Buy According to Mason Hawkins’ Southeastern Asset Management

4. Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H)

Southeastern Asset Management’s Stake Value: $315.66 million

Southeastern Asset Management’s 13F Portfolio: 5.99%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 37

Investors are loading up on Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H), as it was found in the portfolio of 37 hedge funds at the end of the third quarter, up from 23 a quarter ago.

Southeastern Asset Management reported owning 4.09 million shares of Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) at the end of the third quarter, worth $315.66 million, up 19% over the previous quarter where the fund owned 3.47 million shares. The company develops and manages hotels and resort chains in the United States and internationally.

On December 13, Bernstein analyst Richard Clarke initiated coverage of Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) with an ‘Outperform’ rating and a $105 price target. The analyst noted that the company represents a phenomenal growth story, having doubled its hotel room count since its 2009 IPO, and currently accounts for roughly 4% of the global development pipeline.

Investment firm Baron Funds mentioned Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) in its Q3 investor letter. Here’s what the fund said:

“Hyatt Hotels Corp.: Following its recent announcement to acquire Apple Leisure Group, a highly desirable independent resort management company with 102 resorts in 10 countries, we reacquired shares in Hyatt, a leading hotel company. We believe this acquisition will accelerate Hyatt’s industry-leading growth by adding a portfolio of resort brands with a large pipeline. Hyatt’s management has also announced its intention to accelerate its transformation to greater fee-based earnings and create additional liquidity by seeking to sell $2 billion of owned hotels in the next three years. We believe the combination of industry-leading growth, hotel asset sales at attractive valuations, and the company’s ongoing transformation to more of an asset-light business will result in an improvement in Hyatt’s valuation and strong shareholder returns.”