RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $10.92.

A number of research firms have recently commented on RLJ. StockNews.com cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Truist Financial reduced their target price 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. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th.

RLJ Lodging Trust Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of RLJ stock opened at $9.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.20 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. RLJ Lodging Trust has a fifty-two week low of $8.74 and a fifty-two week high of $12.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $10.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.58.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.23). The business had revenue of $345.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $342.93 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 3.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 EPS for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.05%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 206.90%.

Institutional Trading of RLJ Lodging Trust

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 4.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,166,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $47,429,000 after purchasing an additional 240,254 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.1% during the third 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 last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 97.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 271,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,495,000 after acquiring an additional 134,093 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.4% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 389,527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,576,000 after acquiring an additional 1,634 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.3% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 192,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,769,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

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.