RLJ Lodging Trust $RLJ Shares Sold by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 64.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 92,529 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 167,375 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of RLJ Lodging Trust worth $674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 5,785,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $45,645,000 after acquiring an additional 28,880 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.8% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,977,691 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,238,000 after purchasing an additional 137,014 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 192.4% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 2,782,181 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $21,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,830,803 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 42.2% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,363,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $17,208,000 after purchasing an additional 701,535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,800,636 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,109,000 after purchasing an additional 198,568 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on RLJ shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in a report on Monday, December 1st. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $7.50 price target (down from $9.00) on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded RLJ Lodging Trust to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Baird R W lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.08.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

NYSE:RLJ opened at $7.33 on Monday. RLJ Lodging Trust has a one year low of $6.16 and a one year high of $10.70. The stock has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a PE ratio of 146.50 and a beta of 1.16. 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 50 day moving average price of $7.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.36.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 1.78% and a net margin of 2.48%.The company had revenue of $330.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.13 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.2%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 1,200.00%.

Insider Transactions at RLJ Lodging Trust

In other RLJ Lodging Trust news, Director Robin Mcbride Zeigler sold 13,413 shares of RLJ Lodging Trust stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.51, for a total transaction of $100,731.63. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 37,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $279,064.09. The trade was a 26.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

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.