HG Vora Capital Management, Parag Vora Up Their Stake in Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (AHT)

HG Vora Capital Management and its manager, Parag Vora, have high hopes for Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT). HG Vora has recently increased its stake by 3.65 million shares taking its investment to a total of 5.0 million shares, which account for 6.2% of the company’s common stock.

Cliff Asness is also fond of Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT). His fund, AQR Capital Management, has massively increased its stake in Ashford Hospitality. According to the fund’s latest 13F report, AQR now owns 2.36 million shares, up by 385% from the third quarter, valued at approximately $19.5 million. Hedge fund guru Jim Simons is also keeping an eye on Ashford Hospitality, with Renaissance Technologies holding 517,800 shares, worth approximately $4.3 million.

Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT) is a real estate investment trust, managing properties in United States. The stock is traded at a forward Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio of 8.44 and pay a dividend of $0.4, which represents a yield of 3.7%. The company is expected to release 2013 fourth quarter financial results on February 27, while analysts estimate revenues of $212 million and earnings per share (EPS) of $0.23. Baird has recently upgraded the stock from Neutral to Outperform, but has lowered the price target from $14 to $12 per share.

Parag Vora is also very optimistic about Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc (NYSE:PNK). HG Vora has built a new position during the fourth quarter of 2013 and has reported in its latest 13F filing the ownership of 3.4 million shares valued at approximately $88.4 million. This position accounts for 20% of the fund’s stock portfolio. Another significant investment is the acquisition of 4.4 million shares of Northstar Realty Finance Corp. (NYSE:NRF) valued at a little over $59 million. This is also a new position initiated by Vora during the last quarter of 2013.

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