KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Buys New Shares in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 34,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $360,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kiker Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in RLJ Lodging Trust in the 4th quarter worth $761,000. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 84.1% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 49,286 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $503,000 after purchasing an additional 22,515 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $112,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans purchased a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter valued at $4,374,000. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $146,000. 92.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RLJ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. KeyCorp lowered their price target 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.82.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

Shares of RLJ stock opened at $6.83 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $9.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 23.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.69. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 52 week low of $6.50 and a 52 week high of $11.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.36. The company had revenue of $329.99 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.66 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 3.58%. On average, research analysts predict that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 222.22%.

Insider Transactions at RLJ Lodging Trust

In other news, Director Patricia L. Gibson bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The shares were acquired 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 directly owns 124,217 shares in the company, valued at approximately $997,462.51. The trade was a 8.76 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.60% 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.