RLJ Lodging Trust (RLJ) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 31st

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, March 14th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st.

RLJ Lodging Trust has increased its dividend by an average of 307.9% per year over the last three years. RLJ Lodging Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 305.3% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect RLJ Lodging Trust to earn $1.42 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.58 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.8%.

RLJ Lodging Trust Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of RLJ stock opened at $8.74 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $9.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.62. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.15, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.69. RLJ Lodging Trust has a fifty-two week low of $8.46 and a fifty-two week high of $12.13.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.36. The company had revenue of $329.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.66 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.58% and a net margin of 5.19%. Research analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on RLJ shares. StockNews.com upgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.79.

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.