Analysts Set Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) Price Target at $22.70

Shares of Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.70.

IRT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a report on Monday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Independence Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. Compass Point reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. UBS Group began coverage on Independence Realty Trust in a research report on Monday, April 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Independence Realty Trust from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Independence Realty Trust news, CEO Scott Schaeffer sold 10,000 shares of Independence Realty Trust stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.21, for a total value of $212,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 873,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,524,071.65. The trade was a 1.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 11,500 shares of company stock worth $241,445 in the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Independence Realty Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 521 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 131.4% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,254 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust during the first quarter valued at about $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.25% of the company’s stock.

Independence Realty Trust Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of IRT opened at $17.41 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $18.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.58. The company has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.96. Independence Realty Trust has a 52-week low of $17.10 and a 52-week high of $22.26.

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $160.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.08 million. Independence Realty Trust had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 0.85%. Independence Realty Trust’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Independence Realty Trust will post 1.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Independence Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 27th. This is an increase from Independence Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. Independence Realty Trust’s payout ratio is currently 457.14%.

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.