GW&K Investment Management LLC Sells 45,077 Shares of Independence Realty Trust, Inc. $IRT

GW&K Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) by 3.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,367,537 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 45,077 shares during the quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Independence Realty Trust were worth $22,414,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Independence Realty Trust by 0.3% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 9,139,506 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $161,678,000 after purchasing an additional 30,701 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,190,693 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $109,524,000 after buying an additional 138,817 shares in the last quarter. Long Pond Capital LP grew its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 564.5% during the 2nd quarter. Long Pond Capital LP now owns 5,500,502 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $97,304,000 after acquiring an additional 4,672,690 shares during the period. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in Independence Realty Trust by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 3,483,911 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $61,630,000 after acquiring an additional 94,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC raised its stake in Independence Realty Trust by 32.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 2,966,540 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $52,478,000 after acquiring an additional 732,689 shares during the period. 88.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IRT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Independence Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Independence Realty Trust from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Independence Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Independence Realty Trust from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.25.

Independence Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of IRT opened at $16.66 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.99. Independence Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.06 and a 1 year high of $21.67. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.83.

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. Independence Realty Trust had a net margin of 8.60% and a return on equity of 1.58%. The firm had revenue of $167.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.26 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. Independence Realty Trust’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Independence Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Independence Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Independence Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 283.33%.

Independence Realty Trust Company Profile

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.