RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Monday.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Compass Point lowered shares of 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 research note on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note 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. Finally, Bank of America cut 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 report on Monday, July 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, RLJ Lodging Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.71.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

RLJ Lodging Trust stock traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $9.07. 1,467,942 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,376,311. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $9.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.70. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of 34.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.69. RLJ Lodging Trust has a one year low of $8.79 and a one year high of $12.39.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.25). The business had revenue of $369.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.67 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 3.34%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 131.1% during 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 buying an additional 1,878,616 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.7% during 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 buying an additional 420,428 shares in the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 50.9% during 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 buying an additional 290,000 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 17.6% during the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,554,388 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $18,373,000 after buying an additional 232,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 9.8% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,699,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,367,000 after buying an additional 152,395 shares in 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.