Blair William & Co. IL Lowers Stock Holdings in Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT)

Blair William & Co. IL lowered its position in shares of Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 696,198 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 5,898 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Independence Realty Trust were worth $13,813,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of IRT. SMART Wealth LLC bought a new position in Independence Realty Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at $873,000. Barclays PLC grew its position in Independence Realty Trust by 182.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 400,376 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,208,000 after buying an additional 258,549 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Independence Realty Trust by 12.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 256,234 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,981,000 after buying an additional 28,059 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,495,118 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $51,150,000 after acquiring an additional 686,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $222,000. Institutional investors own 88.25% of the company’s stock.

Independence Realty Trust Stock Down 0.6 %

Independence Realty Trust stock opened at $20.85 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.32. Independence Realty Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.25 and a twelve month high of $22.26. The company has a market capitalization of $4.81 billion, a PE ratio of 115.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.19.

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts expect that Independence Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Independence Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Independence Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 355.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IRT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Independence Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.00.

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.