Ameriprise Financial Inc. Buys 885,071 Shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Free Report) by 58.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,398,066 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 885,071 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 1.56% of RLJ Lodging Trust worth $24,486,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 5,756,233 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $58,771,000 after purchasing an additional 901,111 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust during the fourth quarter valued at $5,426,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,161,489 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $22,069,000 after purchasing an additional 438,024 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans purchased a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,374,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,254,239 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $12,806,000 after purchasing an additional 400,261 shares in the last quarter. 92.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

RLJ stock traded down $0.04 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $7.47. The company had a trading volume of 432,758 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,861,704. RLJ Lodging Trust has a fifty-two week low of $6.16 and a fifty-two week high of $10.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.50. The business has a 50 day moving average of $7.48 and a 200 day moving average of $9.01. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $328.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $328.08 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.58% and a net margin of 5.19%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.04%. RLJ Lodging Trust's dividend payout ratio is currently 230.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at RLJ Lodging Trust

In other news, Director Patricia L. Gibson bought 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.03 per share, for a total transaction of $80,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 124,217 shares in the company, valued at approximately $997,462.51. This trade represents a 8.76% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on RLJ. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a 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 company from $11.00 to $10.00 in a report on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. 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 research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.50 to $9.75 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $10.68.

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.