Gurus Steve Mandel (Trades, Portfolio), Richard Pzena (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio) and Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) all purchased positions in Hilton Worldwide Holdings (HLT, Financial) during the third quarter.
Mandel purchased the largest stake of 19,597,829 shares followed by Pzena with 9,804,419 shares. Cohen invested in 838,300 shares, and Greenblatt purchased 28,234 shares.
Since the gurus invested in Hilton Worldwide Holdings, the company’s market price has gained an estimated 14%.
Hilton Worldwide Holdings has a market cap of $26.49 billion, a price-earnings (P/E) ratio of 17.13, an enterprise value of $36 billion and a price-book (P/B) ratio of 4.05.
Hilton Worldwide was founded by Conrad Hilton, who opened the company’s first hotel in Dallas 91 years ago in 1925.
According to the book “The Hiltons: The True Story of an American Dynasty,” one summer when Hilton was 15 years old he found the book “Optimism” on his mother's sewing table.
"Optimism" was written by 23-year-old Helen Keller, an Alabama native who contracted a disease at 19 months that left her deaf and blind.
While reading the book Hilton learned about Keller's positive outlook on life and was inspired.
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope,” and "Optimism is the harmony between man’s spirit and the spirit of God pronouncing His works good.”
After reading Keller’s book, Hilton told his parents he was going to leave school, and he began working full time at his family's business.
Since Hilton opened its first hotel the company has since expanded its operations to 4,610 hotels, resorts and timeshare properties comprising 758,502 rooms in 100 countries with 164,000 employees as of Dec. 31, 2015.
According to GuruFocus Hilton Worldwide has a 4 of 10 financial strength rating with a cash-debt ratio of 0.08, equity-asset ratio of 0.25, an interest coverage ratio of 3.37 and a Piotroski F-Score of 7, indicating the company is in a healthy situation. The company also has a Beneish M-Score of -2.32 indicating the company is not a manipulator of its financial statements.
Hilton Worldwide has a 5 of 10 profitability and growth rating with an operating margin of 16.78%, a net-margin of 13.35%, an ROE of 25.54%, EBITDA growth (three years) of 15% and EPS growth (three years) of 55.20%.
Below is a Peter Lynch chart on Hilton Worldwide.
Disclosure:Ă‚ Author does not own any shares of this company.
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