Hilton Shares Gain on Buyout Report

Shares of Hilton Hotels Corp. rose Tuesday on a published report that the company’s directors would review takeover bids later this week, but industry analysts were quick to discount the claims.

On the New York Stock Exchange, Hilton shares traded as high as $109.675 before closing at $107.675, up $1.125. About 615,000 shares changed hands.

Hilton officials were not available for comment on the report, which was published in Tuesday’s editions of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Securities analysts said the Beverly Hills-based hotel chain would probably wait for reports from its financial advisers, Shearson Lehman Hutton and Eastdil Realty, before reviewing any bids. Also, serious suitors usually look at those reports before making any offers, analysts say.

“It is very possible that somebody came in with an expression of interest,” said analyst Daniel Lee of Drexel Burnham Lambert. But the “normal process is to first put together these books of data (the financial reports) for potential bidders.”