Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 11,096,743 shares, a growth of 17.0% from the March 31st total of 9,482,097 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,046,311 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.4 days. Approximately 4.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IRT has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Independence Realty Trust from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Independence Realty Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $22.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Independence Realty Trust from $21.00 to $18.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Independence Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Independence Realty Trust from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.50.

Independence Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of IRT traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $16.24. The stock had a trading volume of 1,868,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,147,279. Independence Realty Trust has a 1-year low of $14.60 and a 1-year high of $19.83. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.41. The company has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.22, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.00.

Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.23. Independence Realty Trust had a net margin of 7.27% and a return on equity of 1.35%. The business had revenue of $165.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.35 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Independence Realty Trust has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.120-1.160 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Independence Realty Trust will post 1.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Independence Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, March 27th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 27th. Independence Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 340.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Independence Realty Trust

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Independence Realty Trust by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,235,002 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $580,948,000 after acquiring an additional 250,549 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Independence Realty Trust by 0.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Independence Realty Trust by 0.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. 88.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.