RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Raised to Hold at Zacks Research

Key Points

• RLJ Lodging Trust has been upgraded by Zacks Research from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating, reflecting a shift in analyst sentiment.
• The company recently reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, exceeding expectations and setting its FY 2025 guidance between 1.380-1.580 EPS.
• Current consensus ratings show two analysts with a Buy rating, three with a Hold rating, and one with a Sell rating, with an average target price of $9.50.

Zacks Research upgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Free Report) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday, September 9th,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $9.50.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

RLJ traded down $0.12 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $7.48. 1,386,275 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,120,340. RLJ Lodging Trust has a twelve month low of $6.16 and a twelve month high of $10.84. The company has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.64 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.48 and a quick ratio of 2.48. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $7.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.57.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.02. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 3.03%. The business had revenue of $363.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. RLJ Lodging Trust has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.380-1.580 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.0%. RLJ Lodging Trust's dividend payout ratio is currently 285.71%.

Institutional Trading of RLJ Lodging Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 28.3% during the 2nd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 7,423,055 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $54,040,000 after purchasing an additional 1,637,942 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,977,691 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $36,238,000 after purchasing an additional 137,014 shares in the last quarter. Palisade Capital Management LP increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Palisade Capital Management LP now owns 3,071,508 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $24,234,000 after purchasing an additional 11,235 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 192.4% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 2,782,181 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $21,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,830,803 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 58.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,398,066 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $24,486,000 after purchasing an additional 885,071 shares in the last quarter. 92.35% of the stock is owned by 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.