RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Downgraded to Underweight at Wells Fargo & Company

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) was downgraded by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $9.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $11.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective indicates a potential downside of 1.53% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on RLJ. Compass Point cut RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $10.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America reduced their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report 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, RLJ Lodging Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.25.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

Shares of RLJ stock opened at $9.14 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a PE ratio of 32.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.70. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.28. 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 52-week low of $8.79 and a 52-week high of $12.39.

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 the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 3.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On RLJ Lodging Trust

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in RLJ. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 131.1% in the second quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,311,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,878,616 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in RLJ Lodging Trust in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $11,996,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,236,820 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $298,299,000 after acquiring an additional 420,428 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 50.9% in the second quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 860,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,282,000 after acquiring an additional 290,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Armistice Capital LLC acquired a new position in RLJ Lodging Trust in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,930,000. 92.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.