RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Short Interest Update

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,820,000 shares, a decline of 14.6% from the March 15th total of 11,500,000 shares. Currently, 6.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,340,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on RLJ. Truist Financial cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.50 to $9.75 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com upgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 18th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, RLJ Lodging Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.82.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

NYSE RLJ opened at $6.89 on Wednesday. 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 fifty-two week low of $6.16 and a fifty-two week high of $11.48. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 23.74, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $8.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.26.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.36. The business had revenue of $329.99 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $324.66 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 3.58%. On average, equities analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 222.22%.

Insider Transactions at RLJ Lodging Trust

In other news, Director Patricia L. Gibson bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The stock was bought at an average price of $8.03 per share, with a total value of $80,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 124,217 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $997,462.51. This represents a 8.76 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of RLJ Lodging Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vert Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 22.8% in the 1st quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 74,557 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $588,000 after purchasing an additional 13,831 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 402.7% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 2,944 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter worth about $3,678,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 890,487 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,092,000 after purchasing an additional 48,734 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.