RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Short Interest Down 18.2% in December

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,510,000 shares, a drop of 18.2% from the December 15th total of 12,850,000 shares. Approximately 7.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,690,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.2 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP grew its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 197.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 5,465 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 3,627 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 34.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,051 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares during the last quarter. Ground Swell Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in the third quarter worth $93,000. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust in the third quarter valued at $107,000. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 31.0% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 15,798 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 3,738 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE RLJ opened at $10.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of 34.49 and a beta of 1.70. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $10.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.57. RLJ Lodging Trust has a fifty-two week low of $8.74 and a fifty-two week high of $12.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.23). RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 3.58%. The firm had revenue of $345.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $342.93 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. RLJ Lodging Trust’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. RLJ Lodging Trust’s payout ratio is 206.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Wolfe Research lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.92.

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.