RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

Several other brokerages have also commented on RLJ. Wolfe Research lowered shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.50.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

NYSE RLJ opened at $9.65 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.70. RLJ Lodging Trust has a fifty-two week low of $8.74 and a fifty-two week high of $12.39. The business has a fifty day moving average of $9.99 and a 200-day moving average of $9.56.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $345.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $342.93 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 3.58%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of RLJ Lodging Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RLJ. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 32.4% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 130,942 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,261,000 after acquiring an additional 32,029 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC bought a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the second quarter worth about $340,000. BOKF NA grew its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 129.8% in the second quarter. BOKF NA now owns 27,314 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 15,426 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 131.1% in the second quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,311,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,888,000 after buying an additional 1,878,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust during the second quarter valued at approximately $330,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.