Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Raises Position in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 680,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares during the quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust were worth $6,943,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 282,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 78.2% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,230 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 17,594 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,796 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 13,659 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $139,000 after purchasing an additional 2,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,315,588 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,432,000 after purchasing an additional 4,258 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Up 4.7%

NYSE:RLJ opened at $7.72 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.50. RLJ Lodging Trust has a one year low of $6.16 and a one year high of $10.84. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.06. 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 (NYSE:RLJ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $328.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $328.08 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.58% and a net margin of 5.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.77%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 230.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Patricia L. Gibson bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.03 per share, for a total transaction of $80,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 124,217 shares in the company, valued at approximately $997,462.51. The trade was a 8.76% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on RLJ. StockNews.com upgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on 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. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, RLJ Lodging Trust presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.68.

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.