RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Shares Sold by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 25.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 20,553 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 7,015 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust were worth $198,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 86.5% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 125,076 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 58,002 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,816,392 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $290,848,000 after acquiring an additional 87,414 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 17.6% in the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,554,388 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,373,000 after acquiring an additional 232,091 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 44.8% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 181,076 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,140,000 after acquiring an additional 55,996 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in the first quarter valued at $1,025,000. 92.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on RLJ. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Compass Point lowered shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, RLJ Lodging Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.14.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

Shares of RLJ Lodging Trust stock opened at $9.42 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 52 week low of $8.79 and a 52 week high of $12.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $9.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.69.

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

RLJ Lodging Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. 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 6.37%. This is a boost from RLJ Lodging Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. RLJ Lodging Trust’s payout ratio is 214.29%.

RLJ Lodging Trust Company Profile

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.