StockNews.com Downgrades RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) to Sell

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America dropped 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 research report on Monday, July 22nd. Compass Point cut shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.25.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

RLJ stock opened at $9.89 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.32, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.19. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 12-month low of $8.79 and a 12-month high of $12.39.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last announced 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 business had revenue of $369.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.67 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 3.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. On average, analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of RLJ. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 86.5% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 125,076 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after buying an additional 58,002 shares during the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,930,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,816,392 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $290,848,000 after purchasing an additional 87,414 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 17.6% during the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,554,388 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,373,000 after purchasing an additional 232,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 44.8% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 181,076 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,140,000 after purchasing an additional 55,996 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

RLJ Lodging Trust Company Profile

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.