Donald Smith & CO. Inc. Grows Stake in RLJ Lodging Trust $RLJ

Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 23.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,140,744 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,463,189 shares during the period. RLJ Lodging Trust comprises approximately 1.8% of Donald Smith & CO. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. owned about 0.09% of RLJ Lodging Trust worth $97,899,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in RLJ. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 286.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,618,413 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,783,000 after buying an additional 1,199,318 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 179.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,434,974 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,447,000 after buying an additional 921,548 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,042,014 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $21,903,000 after buying an additional 759,913 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 47.5% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,634,179 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,897,000 after buying an additional 526,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 457.4% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 362,379 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,609,000 after buying an additional 297,370 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on RLJ shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Raymond James Financial cut RLJ Lodging Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $9.00 to $11.00 in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Barclays raised their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $6.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Truist Financial cut their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, RLJ Lodging Trust presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $8.67.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

NYSE:RLJ opened at $10.66 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1,065.50 and a beta of 1.13. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 1 year low of $6.54 and a 1 year high of $10.86. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.89.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $339.98 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $323.51 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 1.37% and a net margin of 1.84%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.22 EPS for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -6,000.00%.

RLJ Lodging Trust Profile

RLJ Lodging Trust is a self-managed, publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, owns and operates premium-branded, focused-service and compact full-service hotels. The company’s portfolio is concentrated in major U.S. markets, targeting properties that benefit from strong corporate and leisure demand, limited new supply and established brand affiliations.

The trust’s hotels are affiliated with leading global lodging brands across the spectrum of service levels, including lifestyle and upscale segments.