RLJ Lodging Trust Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:RLJ)

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 2,329 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 14,456% compared to the typical daily volume of 16 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On RLJ Lodging Trust

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of RLJ. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 131.1% in the second quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,311,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,888,000 after buying an additional 1,878,616 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in RLJ Lodging Trust by 294.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 841,753 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,727,000 after acquiring an additional 628,157 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 25.1% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,991,625 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,283,000 after acquiring an additional 400,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 4.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,397,290 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $68,999,000 after purchasing an additional 340,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 50.9% during the second quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 860,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,282,000 after purchasing an additional 290,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.35% of the company’s stock.

RLJ Lodging Trust Trading Up 4.5 %

Shares of RLJ traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $10.61. 215,331 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,415,413. The business has a fifty day moving average of $9.43 and a 200-day moving average of $9.48. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a PE ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.72. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 1-year low of $8.74 and a 1-year high of $12.39.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $345.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $342.93 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a net margin of 5.19% and a return on equity of 3.58%. The company’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. Analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RLJ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research downgraded RLJ Lodging Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered RLJ Lodging Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.29.

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.