RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ – Get Rating) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,930,000 shares, a decline of 13.0% from the April 30th total of 10,270,000 shares. Currently, 5.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,960,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.6 days.
RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance
Shares of RLJ Lodging Trust stock opened at $10.36 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a quick ratio of 3.55, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 52 week low of $9.27 and a 52 week high of $14.33. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $10.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.03.
RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $302.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $304.99 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.30% and a net margin of 5.36%. The business’s revenue was up 26.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $13.00 to $10.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 30th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.58.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,015,428 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $352,218,000 after purchasing an additional 518,882 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 14.9% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,993,522 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $112,627,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038,447 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,783,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,703,000 after purchasing an additional 71,523 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 65.5% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,673,399 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,453,713 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,421,875 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,272,000 after purchasing an additional 115,320 shares in the last quarter. 88.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About RLJ Lodging Trust
RLJ Lodging Trust is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the ownership and acquisition of hotels. It operates through the following hotel brands: Embassy Suites, Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt House, Hyatt Place, Hilton Garden Inn, Wyndham, Renaissance, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Holiday Inn Express, Sleep Inn, Hampton Inn, Hotel Indigo, IHG, SpringHill Suites, Hyatt Centric, and Homewood Suites.