Goldman Sachs lowered shares of China Lodging Group to an overweight rating in a report released on March 12.

　　Goldman Sachs lowered shares of China Lodging Group to an overweight rating in a report released on March 12. Goldman Sachs currently has $26.20 price objective on the stock.

　　"China Lodging reported strong 4Q results with revenue up 27% and net income up 222% yoy. Net income was 15% higher than consensus. The beat was mainly driven by better operating margin, which expanded 430bps yoy. We stay OW…Management expects to add 420-450 hotels in 2014, including 50-60 leased hotels. 1Q14 revenue is expected to grow 19-21% yoy and full-year 2014 revenue growth guidance is 20-23% yoy.,” Goldman Sachs’ analyst wrote.

　　Shares of China Lodging Group traded down 2.32% on Wednesday, hitting $25.63. The stock had a trading volume of 193,643 shares. China Lodging Group has a 52 week low of $14.75 and a 52 week high of $32.29. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $27.64 and its 200-day moving average is $24.67. The company has a market cap of $1.571 billion and a P/E ratio of 42.95.

　　China Lodging Group last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 11th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.25. Analysts expect that China Lodging Group will post $6.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

　　A number of other firms have also recently commented. Analysts at Zacks upgraded shares of China Lodging Group from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. They now have a $31.70 price target on the stock. Analysts at Bank of America downgraded shares of China Lodging Group from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. China Lodging Group presently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $26.40.

　　China Lodging Group, Limited operates hotel chain in China with leased-and-operated and franchised-and-managed models.