RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Sunday.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings raised RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on RLJ Lodging Trust in a report on Thursday, March 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $8.50 price target for the company. Barclays boosted their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $6.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $9.00 to $11.00 in a report on Thursday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $8.67.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:RLJ opened at $10.60 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.03. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 52-week low of $6.54 and a 52-week high of $10.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 2.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of -1,059.60 and a beta of 1.13.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.02. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 1.37% and a net margin of 1.84%.The business had revenue of $339.98 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $323.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.31 earnings per share. RLJ Lodging Trust’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.22 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On RLJ Lodging Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RLJ. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 12.3% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 90,874 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $717,000 after acquiring an additional 9,983 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 11.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 993,552 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,839,000 after acquiring an additional 103,065 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in the second quarter worth about $1,248,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 47.5% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,634,179 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,897,000 after acquiring an additional 526,172 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 2,721.1% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,470 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 3,347 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

About RLJ Lodging Trust

RLJ Lodging Trust is a self-managed, publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, owns and operates premium-branded, focused-service and compact full-service hotels. The company’s portfolio is concentrated in major U.S. markets, targeting properties that benefit from strong corporate and leisure demand, limited new supply and established brand affiliations.

The trust’s hotels are affiliated with leading global lodging brands across the spectrum of service levels, including lifestyle and upscale segments.