RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Upgraded to "Hold" at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on RLJ. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on 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. Truist Financial lowered shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $10.00 in a report on Friday, March 21st. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, RLJ Lodging Trust presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $10.68.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

RLJ Lodging Trust stock traded up $0.46 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $7.83. The stock had a trading volume of 444,182 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,840,985. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 1 year low of $6.16 and a 1 year high of $10.84. 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 stock's 50 day moving average is $7.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.50.

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

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. RLJ Lodging Trust's dividend payout ratio is 230.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 97.4% in the third 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. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,331,818 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $34,018,000 after purchasing an additional 232,393 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $277,000. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $355,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,690,945 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $37,685,000 after purchasing an additional 98,673 shares during the last quarter. 92.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.