Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.00.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on IRT shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on Independence Realty Trust from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Independence Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Independence Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th.

Institutional Trading of Independence Realty Trust

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of IRT. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in Independence Realty Trust by 66.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in Independence Realty Trust during the third quarter valued at about $41,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Independence Realty Trust by 627.5% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,328 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Independence Realty Trust by 67.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,491 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Independence Realty Trust by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,735 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.25% of the company’s stock.

Independence Realty Trust Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:IRT opened at $20.94 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.31, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.18. Independence Realty Trust has a 12-month low of $15.23 and a 12-month high of $22.26.

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.24. Independence Realty Trust had a return on equity of 1.11% and a net margin of 6.15%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Independence Realty Trust will post 1.19 EPS for the current year.

Independence Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Independence Realty Trust’s payout ratio is currently 355.56%.

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.