Marshall Wace LLP Decreases Holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Marshall Wace LLP lessened its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Free Report) by 34.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 310,291 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 165,600 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 0.20% of RLJ Lodging Trust worth $2,988,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,816,392 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $290,848,000 after buying an additional 87,414 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in the 4th quarter worth approximately $251,000. Pensionfund DSM Netherlands boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 13.1% during the 1st quarter. Pensionfund DSM Netherlands now owns 86,200 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,019,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 17,381 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 3,061 shares during the period. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 28.8% in the 1st quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 37,100 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 8,300 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.35% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. StockNews.com downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Compass Point lowered shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of 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, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $12.14.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of RLJ Lodging Trust stock traded up $0.18 on Friday, reaching $9.42. 1,169,181 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,375,561. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $9.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 1-year low of $8.79 and a 1-year high of $12.39. The company has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.69.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Get Free Report) last posted 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 analyst estimates of $365.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. The company's revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.37%. This is an increase from RLJ Lodging Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. RLJ Lodging Trust's dividend payout ratio is presently 214.29%.

RLJ Lodging Trust 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.