RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Short Interest Down 18.2% in January

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,510,000 shares, a decline of 18.2% from the December 31st total of 12,850,000 shares. Currently, 7.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,690,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On RLJ Lodging Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 393,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,793,000 after buying an additional 75,654 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 9.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 571,240 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,501,000 after acquiring an additional 47,475 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 7.3% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 245,999 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,369,000 after acquiring an additional 16,832 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 197.3% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 5,465 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 3,627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,144,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on RLJ. StockNews.com downgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on RLJ Lodging Trust from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.92.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Up 0.0 %

RLJ Lodging Trust stock traded up $0.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $9.86. 559,222 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,607,149. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 12-month low of $8.74 and a 12-month high of $12.39. The business has a fifty day moving average of $10.12 and a 200 day moving average of $9.60. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.16 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.74.

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

RLJ Lodging Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.08%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s payout ratio is presently 206.90%.

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.