American Century Companies Inc. Grows Position in Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) by 11.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 66,480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,771 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Independence Realty Trust were worth $1,319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Independence Realty Trust by 66.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 627.5% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,328 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 67.1% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,491 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Independence Realty Trust by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,735 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Independence Realty Trust during the third quarter worth $64,000. 88.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Independence Realty Trust in a research note on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Independence Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $24.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Independence Realty Trust from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.22.

Independence Realty Trust Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE:IRT opened at $18.29 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.21. Independence Realty Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.27 and a fifty-two week high of $22.26. The company has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a PE ratio of 101.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.98.

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.24. Independence Realty Trust had a return on equity of 1.11% and a net margin of 6.15%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Independence Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Independence Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Independence Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 355.56%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott Schaeffer sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.21, for a total value of $212,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 873,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,524,071.65. This represents a 1.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.