RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Short Interest Update

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,820,000 shares, a decrease of 14.6% from the March 15th total of 11,500,000 shares. Approximately 6.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,340,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Patricia L. Gibson bought 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.03 per share, for a total transaction of $80,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 124,217 shares in the company, valued at $997,462.51. This trade represents a 8.76 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RLJ. KBC Group NV bought a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the first quarter valued at $27,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 222,411 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,755,000 after acquiring an additional 1,762 shares during the period. Vert Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 22.8% during the 1st quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 74,557 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $588,000 after acquiring an additional 13,831 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 402.7% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,675 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 2,944 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,678,000. Institutional investors own 92.35% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial downgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $10.00 in a report on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com raised RLJ Lodging Trust from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.50 to $9.75 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $10.82.

RLJ Lodging Trust Trading Up 0.1 %

RLJ traded up $0.01 on Friday, hitting $6.96. 208,103 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,771,721. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of 23.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.51. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 12 month low of $6.16 and a 12 month high of $11.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.74. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.22.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $329.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.66 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 3.58%. Sell-side analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.63%. RLJ Lodging Trust's dividend payout ratio is currently 222.22%.

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.