Teacher Retirement System of Texas Purchases New Position in Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 32,964 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $700,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Independence Realty Trust by 67.1% in 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 buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Independence Realty Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $83,000. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new position in Independence Realty Trust in the first quarter valued at approximately $85,000. State of Wyoming grew its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,355 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Independence Realty Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $111,000. 88.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Independence Realty Trust Stock Performance

IRT opened at $17.11 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.27. The company has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 122.21, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.93. Independence Realty Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $17.05 and a one year high of $22.26.

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

Independence Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. This is a boost from Independence Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 27th. Independence Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 485.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of 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. Compass Point reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Independence Realty Trust from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.40.

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.