Morgan Stanley Pair Trade: Upgrades Hilton, Downgrades Marriott

Morgan Stanley on Wednesday called a pair trade, upgrading Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT) to Overweight and increased its price target to $27; Marriott International(NASDAQ: MAR) was downgraded, with a price target at $64 per share.

In the report, analyst Thomas Allen states that the industry as a whole is attractive, and that Marriott "has outperformed other US Lodging stocks by 14% YTD. While we still see it as one of the cleanest long-term growth stories in Lodging, we move to Equal-weight as we see a more balanced risk-reward in the near-term at these levels.”

Additionally, Allen stated, “A combination of strong fundamentals and a deep dive into the strategic value of the Waldorf Astoria lead us to upgrade HLT to Overweight and increase our price target to $27 (22% upside).”

Shares of Hilton are up $0.50 or 2.26 percent to $22.66 per share. Shares of Marriott are up $0.11 or 0.19 percent to $58.11 per share.