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

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $12.14.

Several analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Compass Point downgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $10.00 in a research 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 research report on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RLJ opened at $9.19 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.69. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 1 year low of $8.79 and a 1 year high of $12.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.87.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.25). The firm had revenue of $369.30 million for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from RLJ Lodging Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. RLJ Lodging Trust’s payout ratio is currently 214.29%.

Institutional Trading of RLJ Lodging Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RLJ. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 11,944 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 27,568 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 1,903 shares during the period. Vert Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 64,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,015 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.0% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 32.3% during the first 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

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.