RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Hits New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $8.78 and last traded at $8.78, with a volume of 495290 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $8.85.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RLJ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Compass Point lowered 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 note on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Bank of America lowered their target price on RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.71.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a PE ratio of 33.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.70. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $9.25 and a 200 day moving average of $9.66.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $365.67 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 3.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 225,738 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,072,000 after buying an additional 1,755 shares during the last quarter. Ground Swell Capital LLC bought a new position in RLJ Lodging Trust during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $93,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 46.6% during the 3rd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 4,855,122 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,570,000 after buying an additional 1,543,848 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 34.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,051 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning bought a new position in RLJ Lodging Trust during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $275,000. Institutional investors own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

RLJ Lodging Trust Company 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.