Analysts Set RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Target Price at $12.25

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $12.25.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Compass Point cut RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $18.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on RLJ Lodging Trust from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. StockNews.com cut RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 197.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 5,465 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 3,627 shares in the last quarter. Hazelview Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the first quarter valued at $82,000. BOKF NA acquired a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in the 1st quarter valued at $139,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 11,944 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 3,052 shares during the period. 92.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

Shares of RLJ opened at $9.89 on Monday. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 12 month low of $8.79 and a 12 month high of $12.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $9.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.18. The company has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.32, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.70.

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

RLJ Lodging Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a positive change from RLJ Lodging Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.07%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 214.29%.

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.