Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys New Position in Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 32,964 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $700,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake 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 valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Independence Realty Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $83,000. Wealthquest Corp bought a new stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust in the first quarter valued at about $85,000. State of Wyoming grew its position in Independence Realty Trust by 49.2% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,355 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 1,437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Independence Realty Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $111,000. 88.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on IRT shares. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Independence Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Compass Point restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Independence Realty Trust from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Independence Realty Trust from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.40.

Independence Realty Trust Price Performance

IRT opened at $17.11 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $18.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.27. The company has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.93. Independence Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.05 and a 1 year high of $22.26.

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.01). Independence Realty Trust had a return on equity of 0.85% and a net margin of 4.70%. The company had revenue of $160.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.08 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Independence Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Independence Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This is a boost from Independence Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.97%. Independence Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 485.71%.

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.