Capula Management Ltd Invests $321,000 in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Capula Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 31,416 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,397,290 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $68,999,000 after buying an additional 340,271 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 5,756,233 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $58,771,000 after acquiring an additional 901,111 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 4.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,166,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $47,429,000 after acquiring an additional 240,254 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,930,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,085,000 after acquiring an additional 44,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,690,945 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,685,000 after purchasing an additional 98,673 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RLJ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.50 to $9.75 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Truist Financial downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com upgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.82.

Insider Transactions at RLJ Lodging Trust

In other RLJ Lodging Trust news, Director Patricia L. Gibson bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.03 per share, with a total value of $80,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 124,217 shares in the company, valued at $997,462.51. This trade represents a 8.76 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

RLJ Lodging Trust Stock Performance

Shares of RLJ opened at $6.63 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.49. 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 has a 52 week low of $6.25 and a 52 week high of $11.99. The stock has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.84, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.51.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.36. The company had revenue of $329.99 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.66 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 3.58%. On average, analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 EPS for the current year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.06%. RLJ Lodging Trust’s payout ratio is 222.22%.

About RLJ Lodging Trust

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.