RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Rating Increased to Strong Sell at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) to a strong sell rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on RLJ. Wall Street Zen upgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 7th. UBS Group set a $13.00 price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $7.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $9.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.83.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

Shares of RLJ opened at $12.32 on Thursday. RLJ Lodging Trust has a fifty-two week low of $6.54 and a fifty-two week high of $12.51. The company has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1,232.50 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 2.89.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $339.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $323.51 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 1.37% and a net margin of 1.84%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio is -6,000.00%.

Institutional Trading of RLJ Lodging Trust

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 2,721.1% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,470 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 3,347 shares in the last quarter. Daytona Street Capital LLC acquired a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 166.8% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,618 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 2,887 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 3rd quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 4th quarter worth $51,000. 92.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About RLJ Lodging Trust

RLJ Lodging Trust is a self-managed, publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, owns and operates premium-branded, focused-service and compact full-service hotels. The company’s portfolio is concentrated in major U.S. markets, targeting properties that benefit from strong corporate and leisure demand, limited new supply and established brand affiliations.

The trust’s hotels are affiliated with leading global lodging brands across the spectrum of service levels, including lifestyle and upscale segments.