Stevens Capital Management LP Makes New Investment in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 10,889 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $128,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 87,008 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 326,141 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,209,000 after buying an additional 1,306 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 18,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 1,525 shares in the last quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 62,650 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $734,000 after buying an additional 1,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 36,554 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 2,271 shares in the last quarter. 92.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

RLJ Lodging Trust Price Performance

NYSE:RLJ opened at $11.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company’s 50-day moving average is $11.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.18. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 12-month low of $9.06 and a 12-month high of $12.39.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $319.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.34 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.76% and a return on equity of 3.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. Research analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.55 EPS for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 125.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on RLJ shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.90.

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.