RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Price Target Raised to $10.50

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) had its target price raised by Bank of America from $9.25 to $10.50 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has an underperform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

RLJ has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Raymond James Financial lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $9.00 to $11.00 in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Barclays upped their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $6.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings raised RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, RLJ Lodging Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.61.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Up 0.8%

RLJ stock opened at $12.34 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.89. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 52-week low of $6.54 and a 52-week high of $12.46. The company has a 50-day moving average of $10.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1,233.50 and a beta of 1.09.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.02. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 1.37% and a net margin of 1.84%.The company had revenue of $339.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $323.51 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -6,000.00%.

Institutional Trading of RLJ Lodging Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 13,140,744 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $97,899,000 after purchasing an additional 2,463,189 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,844,974 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,650,000 after purchasing an additional 114,163 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,709,660 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,637,000 after purchasing an additional 74,252 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,127,412 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $23,299,000 after purchasing an additional 94,291 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,042,014 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $21,903,000 after buying an additional 759,913 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

About RLJ Lodging Trust

RLJ Lodging Trust is a self-managed, publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, owns and operates premium-branded, focused-service and compact full-service hotels. The company’s portfolio is concentrated in major U.S. markets, targeting properties that benefit from strong corporate and leisure demand, limited new supply and established brand affiliations.

The trust’s hotels are affiliated with leading global lodging brands across the spectrum of service levels, including lifestyle and upscale segments.