RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Shares Sold by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System cut its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 44,022 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,294 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust were worth $516,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Point72 Middle East FZE bought a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 319.5% during the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,713 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 2,828 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter worth $71,000. 92.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RLJ has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. StockNews.com raised RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on RLJ Lodging Trust from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on RLJ Lodging Trust in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $15.00 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, RLJ Lodging Trust has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.90.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

Shares of RLJ Lodging Trust stock opened at $11.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of 34.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.71. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 12 month low of $9.06 and a 12 month high of $12.39. The company has a quick ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.14.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $319.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $313.34 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.79% and a net margin of 5.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s payout ratio is 125.00%.

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.