5 Small-Cap Stocks With Insider Buying

4. RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 20

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) is a real estate investment trust that owns premium-branded, high-margin, focused-service, and compact full-service hotels. On September 23, a director at RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) purchased 5,000 shares of the company priced at $10.47 each. As of March 10, the stock trades at $10.73, indicating a return of 2.5% since the director purchased the company shares. It is one of the best small-cap stocks with insider transactions. On February 27, the company announced a 60% increase in quarterly dividend to $0.08 per common share and a portfolio comparable RevPAR of $127.25. 

On October 20, Truist analyst Gregory Miller reiterated a Buy recommendation on RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) but lowered the firm’s price target on the shares to $15 from $17 as part of a broader research note on Lodging REITs.

According to Insider Monkey’s Q4 data, 20 hedge funds were long RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ), compared to 21 funds in the prior quarter. Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management is the biggest stakeholder of the company, with 1.45 million shares worth $15.4 million. 

Here is what ClearBridge Small Cap Value Strategy has to say about RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) in its Q3 2022 investor letter:

“The Strategy benefited from its positioning in less interest-rate-sensitive companies within the real estate sector, where the aggressive increase in rates and hawkish outlook made it the benchmark’s second worst performing sector of the quarter. RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ), which specializes in premium-branded, high-margin hotels, benefited from its ability to adjust pricing to account for higher costs. Although the company saw their stock price decline during the period, they outperformed the broader real estate sector.”