RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on RLJ. Compass Point cut 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. Bank of America reduced their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, RLJ Lodging Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.69.

RLJ Lodging Trust Trading Up 1.2 %

RLJ Lodging Trust stock opened at $9.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $9.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.46. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 1 year low of $8.80 and a 1 year high of $12.39. The stock has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.93, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.70.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.25). RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.34% and a net margin of 4.93%. The company had revenue of $369.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $365.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of RLJ Lodging Trust

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RLJ. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 131.1% during the second quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,311,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,888,000 after buying an additional 1,878,616 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter worth $11,996,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,236,820 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $298,299,000 after buying an additional 420,428 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 860,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,282,000 after acquiring an additional 290,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armistice Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,930,000. 92.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.