Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• "Moderate Buy" is the consensus from 12 brokerages (7 buy, 4 hold, 1 sell), with an average 12‑month price target of $20.61.
• The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.17 (annualized $0.68) for a yield of about 4.5%, but the payout ratio is very high at 283.33%, suggesting dividend sustainability risk.
• Institutional investors own roughly 88.25% of the stock, with major managers like Vanguard adding shares and Morgan Stanley boosting its position by 209.5% to 5.65M shares, indicating heavy institutional involvement.

Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.6111.

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised Independence Realty Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $22.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. Zacks Research lowered Independence Realty Trust from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Independence Realty Trust from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Independence Realty Trust from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Independence Realty Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IRT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Independence Realty Trust by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,235,002 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $580,948,000 after purchasing an additional 250,549 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,074,813 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $230,705,000 after purchasing an additional 76,635 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 9,139,506 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $161,678,000 after buying an additional 30,701 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,445,967 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $112,690,000 after buying an additional 148,449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 209.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,649,829 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $98,759,000 after buying an additional 3,824,512 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.25% of the company's stock.

Independence Realty Trust Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE IRT opened at $15.10 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.56 billion, a PE ratio of 62.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.99. Independence Realty Trust has a 52-week low of $14.90 and a 52-week high of $21.56. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $16.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.65.

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.32. Independence Realty Trust had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 8.60%.The business had revenue of $167.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $170.26 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Independence Realty Trust will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Independence Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 27th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Independence Realty Trust's dividend payout ratio is currently 283.33%.

About Independence Realty Trust

Independence Realty Trust is a self-administered equity real estate investment trust that acquires, redevelops and manages multi-family communities. The company focuses on workforce housing, targeting Class A and B garden-style apartments in suburban and urban infill locations. Its core activities include sourcing value-add acquisitions, overseeing property renovations and delivering in-house property management services to optimize rental income and occupancy levels.

Headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania, Independence Realty Trust maintains a geographically diverse portfolio across several high-growth U.S.

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