Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) Price Target Lowered to $18.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) had its price target lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $19.00 to $18.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on IRT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Independence Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $18.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Independence Realty Trust from $21.00 to $18.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Independence Realty Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered Independence Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 22nd. Finally, Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Independence Realty Trust presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.50.

Independence Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Independence Realty Trust stock opened at $15.87 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.10, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.00. Independence Realty Trust has a fifty-two week low of $14.60 and a fifty-two week high of $19.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $15.84 and a 200 day moving average of $16.41.

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.32. The company had revenue of $167.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.26 million. Independence Realty Trust had a return on equity of 1.58% and a net margin of 8.60%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Independence Realty Trust will post 1.14 EPS for the current year.

Independence Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 27th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 27th. Independence Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 283.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 0.8% during the fourth 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 period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,074,813 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $230,705,000 after acquiring an additional 76,635 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 0.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 30,701 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 148,449 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 209.5% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,649,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $98,759,000 after acquiring an additional 3,824,512 shares in the last quarter. 88.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.