RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Stock Holdings Raised by Donald Smith & CO. Inc.

Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 131.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,311,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,878,616 shares during the quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc.’s holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust were worth $31,888,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in the 4th quarter worth approximately $11,996,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,236,820 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $298,299,000 after purchasing an additional 420,428 shares during the period. Armistice Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in the 4th quarter worth about $2,930,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,554,388 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $18,373,000 after buying an additional 232,091 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 152,395 shares during the last quarter. 92.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on RLJ. Bank of America cut 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. Robert W. Baird lowered 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 upgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Compass Point lowered shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $18.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.25.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Up 1.4 %

RLJ opened at $9.14 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $9.33 and its 200-day moving average is $10.27. RLJ Lodging Trust has a one year low of $8.79 and a one year high of $12.39. The company has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a PE ratio of 32.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.70. 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 (NYSE:RLJ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.25). RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 3.34%. The business had revenue of $369.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $365.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. RLJ Lodging Trust’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.56%. 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%.

RLJ Lodging Trust 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.