Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Takes Position in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 59,956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $609,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,397,290 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $68,999,000 after acquiring an additional 340,271 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. raised its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 5,756,233 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $58,771,000 after purchasing an additional 901,111 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,166,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $47,429,000 after buying an additional 240,254 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,930,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,085,000 after buying an additional 44,121 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,690,945 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,685,000 after buying an additional 98,673 shares in the last quarter. 92.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

RLJ Lodging Trust Trading Down 8.4 %

Shares of RLJ opened at $6.79 on Friday. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 1-year low of $6.16 and a 1-year high of $11.83. The company has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 2.74 and a quick ratio of 2.74. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.39.

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

RLJ Lodging Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.84%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 222.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on RLJ shares. KeyCorp cut their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Truist Financial downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.50 to $9.75 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.