Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 3,585 Shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 158,460 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,585 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust were worth $1,250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of RLJ. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 829,251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,467,000 after buying an additional 14,660 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 78.2% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,230 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 1,417 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 17,594 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 1,796 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.7% during 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 buying an additional 98,673 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 61.4% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 96,530 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $986,000 after buying an additional 36,707 shares during the period. 92.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on RLJ. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.50.

RLJ Lodging Trust Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of RLJ stock opened at $7.57 on Friday. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 12-month low of $6.16 and a 12-month high of $10.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $7.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.01. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 4.84% and a return on equity of 3.43%. The firm had revenue of $328.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $328.08 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 230.77%.

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.