Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Stake in Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) by 10.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 42,806 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,967 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Independence Realty Trust were worth $849,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,360,979 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $232,900,000 after acquiring an additional 2,225,371 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,139,652 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $121,811,000 after acquiring an additional 278,959 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,857,943 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $120,108,000 after acquiring an additional 50,788 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 236.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,027,943 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $82,573,000 after acquiring an additional 2,829,247 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,500,696 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $71,764,000 after acquiring an additional 137,464 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IRT has been the topic of several recent research reports. 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. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Independence Realty Trust from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Independence Realty Trust from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Independence Realty Trust has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.33.

Independence Realty Trust Trading Down 1.5 %

IRT stock opened at $20.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 113.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.21. Independence Realty Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $14.35 and a 12-month high of $22.26. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.13.

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

Independence Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.13%. Independence Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 355.56%.

Independence Realty Trust Profile

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.