RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Receives $10.82 Average Target Price from Analysts

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $10.82.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.50 to $9.75 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on 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. StockNews.com raised RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, 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 note on Friday, March 21st.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of NYSE RLJ opened at $6.83 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.53, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 12 month low of $6.50 and a 12 month high of $11.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $9.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.52.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.36. The company had revenue of $329.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.66 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 3.58%. As a group, analysts forecast that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Patricia L. Gibson bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.03 per share, with a total value of $80,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 124,217 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $997,462.51. This represents a 8.76 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of RLJ Lodging Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 402.7% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 2,944 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 78.2% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,230 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,417 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $111,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $112,000. Institutional investors own 92.35% 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.