Voya Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Voya Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,717 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,198 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust were worth $477,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RLJ. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 5,756,233 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $58,771,000 after buying an additional 901,111 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter worth $5,426,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans acquired a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter worth $4,374,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 46.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,254,239 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,806,000 after purchasing an additional 400,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 1,354,062 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,825,000 after purchasing an additional 294,773 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RLJ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.50 to $9.75 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com raised RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $11.00 to $10.00 in a report on Friday, March 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, RLJ Lodging Trust presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Patricia L. Gibson bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.03 per share, for a total transaction of $80,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 124,217 shares in the company, valued at $997,462.51. This represents a 8.76 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

RLJ Lodging Trust Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of RLJ stock opened at $7.39 on Friday. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 1-year low of $6.16 and a 1-year high of $10.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 2.74 and a quick ratio of 2.74. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.07. The firm has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.50.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.01. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 3.58%. The firm had revenue of $328.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $328.08 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 EPS for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 222.22%.

RLJ Lodging Trust 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.