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

Key Points

• Independence Realty Trust, Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from nine research firms, with an average twelve-month target price of $22.78.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.17, yielding 4.0%, and has a payout ratio of 566.67%.
• Independence Realty Trust reported $0.28 earnings per share for the latest quarter, matching analyst estimates, with a total revenue of $161.89 million.

Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nine research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.7778.

Several research analysts have weighed in on IRT shares. Compass Point raised Independence Realty Trust from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised Independence Realty Trust from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Barclays upped their price target on Independence Realty Trust from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Independence Realty Trust from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th.

Independence Realty Trust Stock Down 0.7%

NYSE IRT opened at $17.11 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.94. Independence Realty Trust has a 52 week low of $16.59 and a 52 week high of $22.26. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $17.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.02.

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.28. Independence Realty Trust had a return on equity of 0.78% and a net margin of 4.31%. The business had revenue of $161.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $164.78 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Independence Realty Trust will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Independence Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th were paid a $0.17 dividend. This is an increase from Independence Realty Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 27th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. Independence Realty Trust's payout ratio is presently 566.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Independence Realty Trust

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of IRT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,806,493 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $696,482,000 after buying an additional 554,729 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,570,175 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $288,095,000 after buying an additional 171,228 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 12.9% in the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,926,454 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $122,529,000 after buying an additional 789,515 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,190,693 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $109,524,000 after buying an additional 138,817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 44.2% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,876,816 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $103,535,000 after buying an additional 1,495,132 shares during the last quarter. 88.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Independence Realty Trust

Independence Realty Trust, Inc NYSE: IRT is a real estate investment trust that owns and operates multifamily communities, across non-gateway U.S. markets including Atlanta, GA, Dallas, TX, Denver, CO, Columbus, OH, Indianapolis, IN, Raleigh-Durham, NC, Oklahoma City, OK, Nashville, TN, Houston, TX, and Tampa, FL.

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