RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $12.14.

Several research firms have issued reports on RLJ. Wells Fargo & Company lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Compass Point cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Wolfe Research cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 11,944 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $141,000 after buying an additional 1,229 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 7.4% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 27,568 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 1,903 shares during the last quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 3.2% in the first quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 64,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,015 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.0% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 2,071 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 3,052 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

NYSE RLJ opened at $9.19 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.80, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.69. 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 twelve month low of $8.79 and a twelve month high of $12.39. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.87.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.25). RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 3.34%. The company had revenue of $369.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.67 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.53%. This is a positive change from RLJ Lodging Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 214.29%.

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.