Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 44,121 Shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 1.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,930,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,121 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust were worth $36,085,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 5.0% during the third 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 last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 22.3% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 44,682 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $410,000 after buying an additional 8,136 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning bought a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in the third quarter valued at approximately $275,000. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 44.5% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 212,482 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,951,000 after acquiring an additional 65,398 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 345.1% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 128,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,235,000 after acquiring an additional 99,455 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on RLJ. Wolfe Research downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, RLJ Lodging Trust has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.50.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

Shares of RLJ stock opened at $10.28 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $9.80 and its 200 day moving average is $9.53. 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 has a 12 month low of $8.74 and a 12 month high of $12.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.45, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.72.

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

RLJ Lodging Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.84%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 206.90%.

RLJ Lodging Trust 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.