Short Interest in Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) Increases By 5.4%

Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:IRT) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 23,730,000 shares, a growth of 5.4% from the September 30th total of 22,510,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,020,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 11.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Independence Realty Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Independence Realty Trust during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $499,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Independence Realty Trust by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,744,270 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $528,165,000 after buying an additional 343,334 shares during the period. Boston Partners bought a new position in Independence Realty Trust in the 1st quarter worth approximately $892,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Independence Realty Trust by 35.9% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 205,491 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,315,000 after buying an additional 54,279 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Independence Realty Trust by 152.9% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 198,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,203,000 after buying an additional 120,062 shares during the period. 88.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on IRT shares. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Independence Realty Trust from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Independence Realty Trust from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. BTIG Research upped their price target on Independence Realty Trust from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price objective on Independence Realty Trust from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.57.

Independence Realty Trust Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of IRT opened at $19.06 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.63. Independence Realty Trust has a 12 month low of $12.50 and a 12 month high of $21.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.17.

Independence Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th.

Independence Realty Trust Company Profile

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.