RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Shares Sold by Fisher Asset Management LLC

Fisher Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 16.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,056,830 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 590,844 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned 1.96% of RLJ Lodging Trust worth $35,826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 87,008 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.4% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 326,141 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,209,000 after acquiring an additional 1,306 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 18,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 1,525 shares during the period. Vert Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 62,650 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 36,554 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 2,271 shares in the last quarter. 92.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on RLJ shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on RLJ Lodging Trust in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $15.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.90.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:RLJ opened at $10.73 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $11.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.24. RLJ Lodging Trust has a twelve month low of $9.06 and a twelve month high of $12.39.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $319.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.34 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.51% and a net margin of 5.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. RLJ Lodging Trust’s payout ratio is currently 142.86%.

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.