RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Lowered to Hold Rating by Truist Financial

Truist Financial cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $10.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $11.00.

RLJ has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.50 to $9.75 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com upgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, RLJ Lodging Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.63.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

Shares of RLJ opened at $8.42 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.69. 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 has a 52-week low of $8.26 and a 52-week high of $12.13.

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

RLJ Lodging Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.13%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s payout ratio is 222.22%.

Institutional Trading of RLJ Lodging Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of RLJ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,592,272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,977,000 after purchasing an additional 170,484 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 97.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 271,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,495,000 after purchasing an additional 134,093 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,331,818 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,018,000 after purchasing an additional 232,393 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in RLJ Lodging Trust in the 4th quarter worth approximately $277,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,166,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $47,429,000 after purchasing an additional 240,254 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

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.