Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC Purchases New Shares in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 20,502 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 294.1% in 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 valued at $7,727,000 after purchasing an additional 628,157 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 25.1% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,991,625 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $18,283,000 after buying an additional 400,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,397,290 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $68,999,000 after acquiring an additional 340,271 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,166,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $47,429,000 after acquiring an additional 240,254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,331,818 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,018,000 after acquiring an additional 232,393 shares during the period. 92.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on RLJ shares. StockNews.com raised shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Oppenheimer increased their target price 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.50 to $9.75 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.79.

RLJ Lodging Trust Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:RLJ opened at $9.34 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.68. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.74. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 52 week low of $8.74 and a 52 week high of $12.39.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.36. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 3.58%. The company had revenue of $329.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.66 million. On average, research analysts forecast that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.43%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 222.22%.

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.