Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $97,000 Position in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,603 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,342 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust were worth $97,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 197.3% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 5,465 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 3,627 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 34.9% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,051 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares during the last quarter. Ground Swell Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $93,000. BOKF NA bought a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 1st quarter worth approximately $139,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 32.3% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 12,491 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $147,000 after acquiring an additional 3,052 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on RLJ. StockNews.com cut RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Compass Point lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut RLJ Lodging Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Wolfe Research cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, RLJ Lodging Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.29.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

RLJ stock opened at $10.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $9.38 and a 200-day moving average of $9.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.70. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 12 month low of $8.74 and a 12 month high of $12.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.23). RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 3.58%. The firm had revenue of $345.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $342.93 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.