RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) Increases Dividend to $0.05 Per Share

Posted by Scott Davis on Aug 6th, 2022

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ – Get Rating) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 4th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.05 per share by the real estate investment trust on Monday, October 17th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 29th. This is a positive change from RLJ Lodging Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01.

RLJ Lodging Trust has a payout ratio of 7.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect RLJ Lodging Trust to earn $1.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 2.3%.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RLJ traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $12.45. 1,152,376 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,112,325. The company has a quick ratio of 4.10, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 12-month low of $10.19 and a 12-month high of $16.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $11.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.17.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 4th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.30). RLJ Lodging Trust had a negative return on equity of 7.69% and a negative net margin of 15.12%. The business had revenue of $242.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.79 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.18) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 103.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On RLJ Lodging Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of RLJ. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.1% in the first 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 last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position 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 worth $112,627,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038,447 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 49.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,294,607 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $46,389,000 after buying an additional 1,091,984 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.8% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,053,389 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,832,000 after buying an additional 8,522 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 3.4% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 689,904 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,714,000 after buying an additional 23,000 shares during the period. 98.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RLJ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 7th. StockNews.com cut RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 6th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on RLJ Lodging Trust to $17.00 and set a “na” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 18th. Oppenheimer began coverage on RLJ Lodging Trust in a research report on Thursday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on RLJ Lodging Trust from $20.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.20.

RLJ Lodging Trust Company Profile

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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 consists of 103 hotels with approximately 22,570 rooms, located in 23 states and the District of Columbia and an ownership interest in one unconsolidated hotel with 171 rooms.