Rush Island Management LP Makes New $51.46 Million Investment in Independence Realty Trust, Inc. $IRT

Rush Island Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,456,162 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $51,462,000. Independence Realty Trust makes up 3.5% of Rush Island Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,235,002 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $580,948,000 after buying an additional 250,549 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Independence Realty Trust by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,074,813 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $230,705,000 after acquiring an additional 76,635 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Independence Realty Trust by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 9,139,506 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $161,678,000 after acquiring an additional 30,701 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Independence Realty Trust by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,445,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $112,690,000 after acquiring an additional 148,449 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Independence Realty Trust by 209.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,649,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $98,759,000 after acquiring an additional 3,824,512 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on IRT shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Independence Realty Trust from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Independence Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Barclays upgraded Independence Realty Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Independence Realty Trust from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Independence Realty Trust to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Independence Realty Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.19.

Independence Realty Trust Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE IRT opened at $16.67 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.37 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $16.61 and a 200 day moving average of $16.34. Independence Realty Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.60 and a twelve month high of $18.18.

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $165.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.35 million. Independence Realty Trust had a return on equity of 1.35% and a net margin of 7.27%.The business’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Independence Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Independence Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 26th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. This is a boost from Independence Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Independence Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 360.00%.

About Independence Realty Trust

Independence Realty Trust is a self-administered equity real estate investment trust that acquires, redevelops and manages multi-family communities. The company focuses on workforce housing, targeting Class A and B garden-style apartments in suburban and urban infill locations. Its core activities include sourcing value-add acquisitions, overseeing property renovations and delivering in-house property management services to optimize rental income and occupancy levels.

Headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania, Independence Realty Trust maintains a geographically diverse portfolio across several high-growth U.S.