Donald Smith & CO. Inc. Boosts Stock Position in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Free Report) by 46.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,855,122 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 1,543,848 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. owned 3.13% of RLJ Lodging Trust worth $44,570,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,236,820 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $298,299,000 after acquiring an additional 420,428 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management grew its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,699,595 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $16,367,000 after acquiring an additional 152,395 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,591,525 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $15,326,000 after buying an additional 37,137 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,343,923 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $15,885,000 after purchasing an additional 27,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 5.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 980,894 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $9,446,000 after acquiring an additional 51,981 shares during the period. 92.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

Shares of RLJ stock traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $9.09. 1,772,439 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,376,957. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $9.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of 34.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 12 month low of $8.79 and a 12 month high of $12.39.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share 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 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is an increase from RLJ Lodging Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.60%. RLJ Lodging Trust's dividend payout ratio is presently 230.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Compass Point cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. 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 report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $11.71.

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.