RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Downgraded by Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $9.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $11.00.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Compass Point downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a buy rating to a neutral rating and lowered their target price for the company from $18.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America decreased their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $12.25.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

RLJ opened at $9.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 12 month low of $8.79 and a 12 month high of $12.39. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.27. The stock has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.70.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.25). The company had revenue of $369.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $365.67 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.34% and a net margin of 4.93%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from RLJ Lodging Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 214.29%.

Institutional Trading of RLJ Lodging Trust

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RLJ. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 11,944 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $141,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 27,568 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 1,903 shares during the period. Vert Asset Management LLC increased its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 64,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,015 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 107,116 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,267,000 after acquiring an additional 2,071 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 32.3% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 12,491 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $147,000 after acquiring an additional 3,052 shares during the period. 92.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.