Quest Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Quest Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Free Report) by 86.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 17,484 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 110,790 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC's holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust were worth $161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 131.1% in the 2nd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,311,274 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $31,888,000 after buying an additional 1,878,616 shares during the period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 860,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $8,282,000 after purchasing an additional 290,000 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised 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 valued at $16,367,000 after purchasing an additional 152,395 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the 2nd quarter worth $1,144,000. Finally, Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the first quarter valued at $1,025,000. 92.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RLJ has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Compass Point lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $18.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, RLJ Lodging Trust currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $11.29.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RLJ traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $10.21. The company had a trading volume of 1,010,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,417,972. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 1 year low of $8.74 and a 1 year high of $12.39. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $9.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.70.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $345.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $342.93 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.58% and a net margin of 5.19%. The business's revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.