Brokerages Set Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) PT at $20.19

Shares of Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $19.6429.

Several research firms recently weighed in on IRT. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Independence Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Barclays upgraded Independence Realty Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $19.00 to $20.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Independence Realty Trust from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Independence Realty Trust from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Independence Realty Trust from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Independence Realty Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Independence Realty Trust by 2.4% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 148,449 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in Independence Realty Trust by 49.2% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 572,161 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,518,000 after purchasing an additional 188,658 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 1,767.5% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 571,568 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,991,000 after purchasing an additional 540,962 shares during the last quarter. Vanderbilt University acquired a new stake in Independence Realty Trust in the first quarter valued at $1,572,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $580,948,000 after buying an additional 250,549 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.25% of the company’s stock.

Independence Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of IRT stock opened at $16.66 on Tuesday. Independence Realty Trust has a one year low of $14.60 and a one year high of $18.18. The company’s 50-day moving average is $16.61 and its 200 day moving average is $16.33. The company has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.32 and a beta of 0.95.

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $165.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.35 million. Independence Realty Trust had a net margin of 7.27% and a return on equity of 1.35%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Independence Realty Trust will post 1.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Independence Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 26th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 26th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. This is a boost from Independence Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Independence Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 360.00%.

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.