Jennison Associates LLC Cuts Position in Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT)

Jennison Associates LLC lessened its holdings in Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) by 0.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,136,939 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,713 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Independence Realty Trust were worth $130,287,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in IRT. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Independence Realty Trust by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,398,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $265,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,037,968 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Independence Realty Trust by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,380,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $86,904,000 after acquiring an additional 352,307 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,551,247 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,457,000 after buying an additional 793,403 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 72.5% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,381,684 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $67,093,000 after buying an additional 1,421,377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,506,902 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $49,737,000 after purchasing an additional 11,784 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IRT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Compass Point reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Independence Realty Trust from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Independence Realty Trust from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.40.

Independence Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE IRT opened at $17.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 123.79, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.93. Independence Realty Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $17.05 and a one year high of $22.26. The company’s fifty day moving average is $18.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.24.

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

Independence Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.93%. This is a boost from Independence Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Independence Realty Trust’s payout ratio is presently 485.71%.

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.