Short Interest in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Decreases By 23.7%

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,870,000 shares, a decrease of 23.7% from the March 15th total of 10,320,000 shares. Currently, 5.2% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,300,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RLJ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Wolfe Research began coverage on RLJ Lodging Trust in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $15.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $13.90.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,015,428 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $352,218,000 after buying an additional 518,882 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,993,522 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $112,627,000 after buying an additional 1,038,447 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,057,976 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $49,518,000 after buying an additional 32,318 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,482,562 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $35,766,000 after buying an additional 60,687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,366,587 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $35,686,000 after buying an additional 63,703 shares in the last quarter. 92.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

RLJ Lodging Trust Trading Down 1.9 %

RLJ traded down $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $11.53. 1,072,658 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,241,956. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.10. The firm has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.71. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 1 year low of $9.06 and a 1 year high of $12.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 3.46 and a current ratio of 3.46.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $319.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.34 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.79% and a net margin of 5.76%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. RLJ Lodging Trust's dividend payout ratio is currently 125.00%.

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.