Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC Trims Stock Position in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC decreased its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Free Report) by 86.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,913 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 174,463 shares during the quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC's holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust were worth $269,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in RLJ. Hazelview Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $82,000. BOKF NA acquired a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the first quarter worth $139,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 11.5% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 11,944 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $141,000 after buying an additional 1,229 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 32.3% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 12,491 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $147,000 after buying an additional 3,052 shares during the period. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in RLJ Lodging Trust in the second quarter valued at $158,000. 92.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on RLJ shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Compass Point downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the company from $18.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Wolfe Research lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, RLJ Lodging Trust presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $12.14.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

Shares of RLJ Lodging Trust stock traded up $0.18 on Friday, reaching $9.42. The stock had a trading volume of 1,169,181 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,796,846. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 1 year low of $8.79 and a 1 year high of $12.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.69. The business's 50 day moving average is $9.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.00.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $369.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.37%. This is an increase from RLJ Lodging Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. RLJ Lodging Trust's payout ratio is presently 214.29%.

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.