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

Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 16th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 0.16 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, January 17th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st.

Independence Realty Trust has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.7% per year over the last three years. Independence Realty Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 237.0% meaning 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 $1.21 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 52.9%.

Independence Realty Trust Price Performance

IRT stock opened at $21.18 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $20.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.76. Independence Realty Trust has a fifty-two week low of $14.07 and a fifty-two week high of $22.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.77 billion, a PE ratio of 78.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.19.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays started coverage on Independence Realty Trust in a research note on Tuesday. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $23.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Independence Realty Trust from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Independence Realty Trust from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Independence Realty Trust from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Independence Realty Trust from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.14.

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.