Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 26,928 Shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lessened its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,316,995 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 26,928 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 0.84% of RLJ Lodging Trust worth $12,683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RLJ. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 86.5% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 125,076 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,478,000 after acquiring an additional 58,002 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,816,392 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $290,848,000 after purchasing an additional 87,414 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 17.6% in the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,554,388 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,373,000 after purchasing an additional 232,091 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 44.8% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 181,076 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,140,000 after purchasing an additional 55,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners bought a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust in the first quarter worth $1,025,000. Institutional investors own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RLJ has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Compass Point lowered shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.14.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE RLJ opened at $9.42 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.69. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 52 week low of $8.79 and a 52 week high of $12.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a fifty day moving average of $9.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.03.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.25). The company had revenue of $369.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $365.67 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 3.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from RLJ Lodging Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.37%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. RLJ Lodging Trust’s payout ratio is currently 214.29%.

RLJ Lodging Trust Company 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.