BNP Paribas Financial Markets Trims Position in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets cut its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Free Report) by 73.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,303 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 59,138 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets' holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust were worth $218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 78.2% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,230 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $111,000. Xponance Inc. purchased a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $112,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 23.8% during the 4th quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 13,659 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 2,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in the 4th quarter worth approximately $146,000. 92.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on RLJ shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target 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. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Truist Financial cut RLJ Lodging Trust from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Friday, March 21st. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $10.68.

Insider Activity at RLJ Lodging Trust

In other RLJ Lodging Trust news, Director Patricia L. Gibson acquired 10,000 shares of RLJ Lodging Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.03 per share, for a total transaction of $80,300.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 124,217 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $997,462.51. This represents a 8.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

Shares of RLJ remained flat at $7.30 during mid-day trading on Friday. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,283,048 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,893,727. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 52-week low of $6.16 and a 52-week high of $10.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.74. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $7.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.88. The company has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.50.

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

RLJ Lodging Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. RLJ Lodging Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 230.77%.

About RLJ Lodging Trust

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.