RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $8.15 and last traded at $8.21, with a volume of 2618269 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.33.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $11.00 to $10.00 in a report on Friday, March 21st. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of 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 upgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.82.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Down 1.5 %

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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.57. The company has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 28.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.69.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.36. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.58% and a net margin of 5.19%. The company had revenue of $329.99 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $324.66 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. RLJ Lodging Trust’s payout ratio is 222.22%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On RLJ Lodging Trust

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the third quarter valued at approximately $406,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,592,272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,977,000 after purchasing an additional 170,484 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 12.3% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 55,310 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $508,000 after purchasing an additional 6,039 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 294.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 841,753 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,727,000 after purchasing an additional 628,157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atom Investors LP grew its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 106.0% in the third quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 147,920 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,358,000 after purchasing an additional 76,112 shares during the period. 92.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.