Elme Communities (ELME) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.18 on January 6th

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, November 4th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Thursday, December 19th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share on Monday, January 6th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 19th.

Elme Communities has raised its dividend by an average of 30.8% annually over the last three years. Elme Communities has a payout ratio of -654.5% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Elme Communities to earn $0.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 75.8%.

Elme Communities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ELME traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $17.17. 194,520 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 579,621. The company has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a PE ratio of -112.63 and a beta of 0.89. Elme Communities has a twelve month low of $12.74 and a twelve month high of $18.49. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.27). Elme Communities had a negative return on equity of 1.16% and a negative net margin of 5.51%. The business had revenue of $61.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.31 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.24 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Elme Communities will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on ELME shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Elme Communities from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Elme Communities from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Elme Communities in a report on Monday, October 21st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company.

Elme Communities Company Profile

Elme Communities is committed to elevating what home can be for middle-income renters by providing a higher level of quality, service, and experience. The Company is a multifamily real estate investment trust that owns and operates approximately 9,400 apartment homes in the Washington, DC metro and the Atlanta metro regions, and owns approximately 300,000 square feet of commercial space.