Kiker Wealth Management LLC Takes $761,000 Position in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Kiker Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 74,525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $761,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 4.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,397,290 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $68,999,000 after purchasing an additional 340,271 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,166,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $47,429,000 after purchasing an additional 240,254 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 1.1% in 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of RLJ Lodging Trust by 2.7% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in RLJ Lodging Trust by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,331,818 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,018,000 after acquiring an additional 232,393 shares during the last quarter. 92.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on RLJ. StockNews.com raised shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of RLJ Lodging Trust from $10.50 to $9.75 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.79.

RLJ Lodging Trust Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:RLJ opened at $8.87 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.60. The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a PE ratio of 30.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.69. RLJ Lodging Trust has a 52-week low of $8.46 and a 52-week high of $12.13. 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 (NYSE:RLJ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.36. The company had revenue of $329.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.66 million. RLJ Lodging Trust had a return on equity of 3.58% and a net margin of 5.19%. On average, equities research analysts expect that RLJ Lodging Trust will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

RLJ Lodging Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.77%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. RLJ Lodging Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.