RLJ Lodging Trust Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.15 (NYSE:RLJ)

Key Points

• RLJ Lodging Trust has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, with stockholders of record receiving this payment on October 15th, reflecting a dividend yield of 7.9%.
• The company's current dividend payout ratio stands at 600.0%, indicating reliance on its balance sheet to cover dividends due to insufficient earnings.
• RLJ Lodging Trust reported $0.48 EPS in its latest quarterly earnings, slightly exceeding expectations, although revenue declined 1.7% year-over-year.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, September 15th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th.

RLJ Lodging Trust has a payout ratio of 600.0% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect RLJ Lodging Trust to earn $1.42 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.3%.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

NYSE RLJ traded down $0.17 on Friday, reaching $7.63. 1,585,799 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,130,453. The company has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.31 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $7.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.56. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 12 month low of $6.16 and a 12 month high of $10.84.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.02. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.03% and a net margin of 4.23%.The business had revenue of $363.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $365.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. RLJ Lodging Trust's revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. RLJ Lodging Trust has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.380-1.580 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RLJ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $9.50.

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.