Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 100,900 Shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Renaissance Technologies LLC reduced its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Free Report) by 50.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 99,732 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 100,900 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.06% of RLJ Lodging Trust worth $960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RLJ. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,816,392 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $290,848,000 after acquiring an additional 87,414 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $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 in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 17,381 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 3,061 shares during the period. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 8,300 shares during the period. 92.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on RLJ shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wolfe Research cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $12.14.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of RLJ traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $9.24. 704,021 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,372,081. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 52 week low of $8.79 and a 52 week high of $12.39. The company has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.69. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Get Free Report) last posted its 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). The firm had revenue of $369.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.67 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.34% and a net margin of 4.93%. RLJ Lodging Trust's quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. On average, 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from RLJ Lodging Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. RLJ Lodging Trust's dividend payout ratio is 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.