UDR, Inc. (NYSE:UDR) Increases Dividend to $0.43 Per Share

UDR, Inc. (NYSE:UDR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 13th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.43 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This is a 1.2% increase from UDR’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43.

UDR has raised its dividend by an average of 5.5% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. UDR has a dividend payout ratio of 268.8% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect UDR to earn $2.61 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.9%.

UDR Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:UDR opened at $39.25 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.60. UDR has a fifty-two week low of $35.14 and a fifty-two week high of $47.55. The company has a market capitalization of $13.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 157.01, a P/E/G ratio of 8.67 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 5.61 and a quick ratio of 5.91.

UDR (NYSE:UDR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.53. UDR had a net margin of 5.36% and a return on equity of 2.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that UDR will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on UDR shares. Barclays lowered their target price on UDR from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on UDR from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Mizuho cut their price target on UDR from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on UDR from $48.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut UDR from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $50.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at UDR

In related news, CEO Thomas W. Toomey sold 25,000 shares of UDR stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $1,068,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 824,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,256,609. The trade was a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.73% of the company’s stock.

UDR Company Profile

UDR, Inc (NYSE: UDR), an S&P 500 company, is a leading multifamily real estate investment trust with a demonstrated performance history of delivering superior and dependable returns by successfully managing, buying, selling, developing and redeveloping attractive real estate communities in targeted U.S.