RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Position Raised by Donald Smith & CO. Inc.

Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 46.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,855,122 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,543,848 shares during the quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. owned 3.13% of RLJ Lodging Trust worth $44,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP increased its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 197.3% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 5,465 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 3,627 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 34.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,051 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. BOKF NA acquired a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in the 1st quarter valued at $139,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 11.5% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 11,944 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $141,000 after buying an additional 1,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 32.3% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 12,491 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 3,052 shares during the last quarter. 92.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. Compass Point cut RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $10.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut RLJ Lodging Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.71.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RLJ traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $9.11. 241,843 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,369,669. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 52 week low of $8.79 and a 52 week high of $12.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.69.

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

RLJ Lodging Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from RLJ Lodging Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.59%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 230.78%.

RLJ Lodging Trust 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.