Hsbc Holdings PLC Raises Position in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 227,058 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,828 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.15% of RLJ Lodging Trust worth $2,180,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of RLJ. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 131.1% during the 2nd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,311,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,878,616 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter worth $11,996,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,236,820 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $298,299,000 after purchasing an additional 420,428 shares during the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter worth $2,930,000. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,554,388 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,373,000 after purchasing an additional 232,091 shares during the last quarter. 92.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

RLJ Lodging Trust Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE RLJ opened at $9.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of 33.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.70. RLJ Lodging Trust has a one year low of $8.79 and a one year high of $12.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $9.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.14.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 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 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. Analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from RLJ Lodging Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.31%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s payout ratio is currently 214.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on RLJ. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wolfe Research cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target 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, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.25.

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.