Capital Fund Management S.A. Grows Stock Position in RLJ Lodging Trust $RLJ

Capital Fund Management S.A. lifted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 109.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 156,607 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 81,814 shares during the period. Capital Fund Management S.A. owned about 0.10% of RLJ Lodging Trust worth $1,140,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 576,941 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,235,000 after purchasing an additional 5,401 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC bought a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust during the second quarter valued at about $399,000. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust in the first quarter worth about $971,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust in the first quarter worth about $90,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 12.4% in the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,800,636 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,109,000 after buying an additional 198,568 shares during the period. 92.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

RLJ opened at $7.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 2.55 and a current ratio of 2.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.30 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a fifty day moving average of $7.16 and a 200 day moving average of $7.36. RLJ Lodging Trust has a fifty-two week low of $6.16 and a fifty-two week high of $10.75.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $330.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $326.13 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 1.78% and a net margin of 2.48%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. As a group, 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.3%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 1,200.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RLJ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of RLJ Lodging Trust to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $7.50 price objective (down from $9.00) on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $9.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, RLJ Lodging Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other RLJ Lodging Trust news, Director Robin Mcbride Zeigler sold 13,413 shares of RLJ Lodging Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.51, for a total value of $100,731.63. Following the sale, the director owned 37,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $279,064.09. The trade was a 26.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.