RLJ Lodging Trust Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.15 (NYSE:RLJ)

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, March 14th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st.

RLJ Lodging Trust has raised its dividend payment by an average of 307.9% annually over the last three years. RLJ Lodging Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 305.3% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect RLJ Lodging Trust to earn $1.42 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.58 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.8%.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

RLJ stock opened at $8.74 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $9.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.62. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.15, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.69. RLJ Lodging Trust has a fifty-two week low of $8.46 and a fifty-two week high of $12.13. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.36. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.58% and a net margin of 5.19%. The company had revenue of $329.99 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.66 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on RLJ shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.79.

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.