RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Sets New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $6.16 and last traded at $6.33, with a volume of 236194 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $6.35.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on RLJ. StockNews.com cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. KeyCorp lowered their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.50 to $9.75 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.82.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Up 1.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.74. The company has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 23.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.39.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.36. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 3.58%. The firm had revenue of $329.99 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.66 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.71%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 222.22%.

Insider Activity at RLJ Lodging Trust

In other news, Director Patricia L. Gibson bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.03 per share, for a total transaction of $80,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 124,217 shares in the company, valued at $997,462.51. This trade represents a 8.76 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,397,290 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $68,999,000 after acquiring an additional 340,271 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 44.5% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 212,482 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,951,000 after purchasing an additional 65,398 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd increased its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 52,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $478,000 after purchasing an additional 6,428 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 192,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,769,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 389,527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,576,000 after buying an additional 1,634 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.