XTX Topco Ltd Acquires New Position in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 45,625 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $439,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of RLJ. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,236,820 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $298,299,000 after acquiring an additional 420,428 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 131.1% in the 2nd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,311,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,878,616 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 9.8% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,699,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,367,000 after purchasing an additional 152,395 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.4% during the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,591,525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,326,000 after buying an additional 37,137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.1% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,343,923 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,885,000 after buying an additional 27,746 shares during the period. 92.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

NYSE:RLJ opened at $9.90 on Wednesday. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 12-month low of $8.79 and a 12-month high of $12.39. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.70. The company’s 50-day moving average is $9.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.25). The firm had revenue of $369.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $365.67 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 3.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. Research analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.06%. This is an increase from RLJ Lodging Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. RLJ Lodging Trust’s payout ratio is currently 214.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on RLJ. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America dropped their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Compass Point lowered shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.25.

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.