RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Rating Lowered to Peer Perform at Wolfe Research

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wolfe Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on RLJ. Bank of America lowered their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on RLJ Lodging Trust from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. StockNews.com cut RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Compass Point cut RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $10.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut RLJ Lodging Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.25.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:RLJ opened at $9.42 on Thursday. RLJ Lodging Trust has a twelve month low of $8.79 and a twelve month high of $12.39. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. The business has a fifty day moving average of $9.32 and a 200-day moving average of $10.12.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On RLJ Lodging Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,236,820 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $298,299,000 after buying an additional 420,428 shares during the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 131.1% during the 2nd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,311,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,878,616 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,699,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,367,000 after purchasing an additional 152,395 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,591,525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,326,000 after purchasing an additional 37,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,343,923 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,885,000 after purchasing an additional 27,746 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

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.