Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.16

Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, March 10th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of 0.16 per share by the real estate investment trust on Monday, April 21st. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th.

Independence Realty Trust has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.1% annually over the last three years. Independence Realty Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 206.5% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Independence Realty Trust to earn $1.27 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.4%.

Independence Realty Trust Price Performance

IRT opened at $20.99 on Wednesday. Independence Realty Trust has a 12 month low of $15.25 and a 12 month high of $22.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 116.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.30.

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.32 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Independence Realty Trust will post 1.19 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on IRT. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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. Barclays dropped 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Independence Realty Trust in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.00.

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.