Rhumbline Advisers Lowers Stock Holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Rhumbline Advisers reduced its position in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 2.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 276,612 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 6,234 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.18% of RLJ Lodging Trust worth $2,182,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in RLJ. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust in the 4th quarter worth approximately $277,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 985,899 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,066,000 after purchasing an additional 215,504 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 47,441 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 8,500 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 829,251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,467,000 after purchasing an additional 14,660 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position 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. Institutional investors own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on RLJ shares. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of 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. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Patricia L. Gibson purchased 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.03 per share, for a total transaction of $80,300.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 124,217 shares in the company, valued at $997,462.51. This trade represents a 8.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Up 2.5%

RLJ opened at $7.23 on Tuesday. 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 $10.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $7.20 and its 200 day moving average is $8.67. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.48.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $328.12 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $328.08 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 3.58%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. RLJ Lodging Trust’s payout ratio is currently 230.77%.

RLJ Lodging Trust Profile

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.