Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 2,329 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 14,456% compared to the average volume of 16 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On RLJ Lodging Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 4.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,397,290 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $68,999,000 after buying an additional 340,271 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 46.6% during the 3rd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 4,855,122 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,543,848 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,930,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,085,000 after purchasing an additional 44,121 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 5.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,592,272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,977,000 after purchasing an additional 170,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 25.1% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,991,625 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,283,000 after buying an additional 400,100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

Shares of RLJ opened at $10.67 on Wednesday. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 12-month low of $8.74 and a 12-month high of $12.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.72. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $9.43 and its 200-day moving average is $9.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 2.74 and a quick ratio of 2.74.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $345.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $342.93 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.58% and a net margin of 5.19%. The business’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on RLJ. Wells Fargo & Company lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. Wolfe Research lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.29.

About RLJ Lodging Trust

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.