Russell Investments Group Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) by 24.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,162,523 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 231,365 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Independence Realty Trust were worth $23,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Independence Realty Trust by 17.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,139,652 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $121,811,000 after acquiring an additional 278,959 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 0.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,857,943 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $120,108,000 after acquiring an additional 50,788 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Independence Realty Trust by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,380,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $86,904,000 after acquiring an additional 352,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Independence Realty Trust by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,561,615 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $70,662,000 after purchasing an additional 60,919 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Independence Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $20.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. UBS Group started coverage on Independence Realty Trust in a research note on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Independence Realty Trust in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.22.

Independence Realty Trust Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE IRT opened at $17.80 on Wednesday. Independence Realty Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.27 and a 12-month high of $22.26. The company has a market cap of $4.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.25.

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Independence Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 355.56%.

Insider Activity at Independence Realty Trust

In other news, CEO Scott Schaeffer sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.21, for a total value of $212,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 873,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,524,071.65. This represents a 1.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.