Voya Investment Management LLC Decreases Stake in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Voya Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 46,717 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,198 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust were worth $477,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of RLJ. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 97.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 271,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,495,000 after purchasing an additional 134,093 shares in the last quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 60,726 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $620,000 after buying an additional 12,714 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc raised its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 30.6% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 40,417 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $416,000 after acquiring an additional 9,474 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC boosted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 45,054 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $464,000 after acquiring an additional 9,523 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 44.1% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 34,775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 10,643 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at RLJ Lodging Trust

In other news, Director Patricia L. Gibson bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.03 per share, for a total transaction of $80,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 124,217 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $997,462.51. This trade represents a 8.76 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on RLJ. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.50 to $9.75 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Truist Financial lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.68.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Up 2.9 %

RLJ stock opened at $7.39 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a PE ratio of 25.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.50. RLJ Lodging Trust has a fifty-two week low of $6.16 and a fifty-two week high of $10.84.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.01. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.58% and a net margin of 5.19%. The company had revenue of $328.12 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $328.08 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 EPS for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.