Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) Receives $21.14 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.86.

Several brokerages have commented on IRT. BMO Capital Markets upgraded 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. Barclays decreased their target price on Independence Realty Trust from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Independence Realty Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Independence Realty Trust by 236.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 24.4% in 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 buying an additional 2,225,371 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 419.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,433,058 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,378,000 after buying an additional 1,157,052 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 38.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,495,118 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $51,150,000 after buying an additional 686,630 shares during the period. Finally, Easterly Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust in the third quarter valued at about $11,132,000. 88.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Independence Realty Trust Price Performance

Independence Realty Trust stock opened at $19.09 on Friday. Independence Realty Trust has a 1 year low of $14.07 and a 1 year high of $22.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $20.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.01. The stock has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.38, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.21.

Independence Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st.

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.