RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the eight analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $10.82.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Truist Financial cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.50 to $9.75 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at RLJ Lodging Trust

In related news, Director Patricia L. Gibson purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.03 per share, with a total value of $80,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 124,217 shares in the company, valued at approximately $997,462.51. This trade represents a 8.76 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of RLJ Lodging Trust

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RLJ. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter valued at $9,714,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 5,756,233 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $58,771,000 after buying an additional 901,111 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 58.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,398,066 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $24,486,000 after buying an additional 885,071 shares during the period. Invenomic Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter valued at $9,036,000. Finally, Man Group plc grew its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 300.6% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 712,904 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,279,000 after buying an additional 534,938 shares during the period. 92.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:RLJ opened at $7.10 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. RLJ Lodging Trust has a fifty-two week low of $6.16 and a fifty-two week high of $11.27. The stock has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a PE ratio of 24.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.20.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.36. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 3.58%. The business had revenue of $329.99 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.66 million. Analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.45%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 222.22%.

RLJ Lodging Trust Company Profile

RLJ Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns primarily premium-branded, high-margin, focused-service and compact full-service hotels. The Company's portfolio currently consists of 96 hotels with approximately 21,200 rooms, located in 23 states and the District of Columbia and an ownership interest in one unconsolidated hotel with 171 rooms.