Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) Plans $0.18 Quarterly Dividend

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, November 4th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 19th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share on Monday, January 6th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 19th.

Elme Communities has increased its dividend by an average of 30.8% per year over the last three years. Elme Communities has a payout ratio of -654.5% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Elme Communities to earn $0.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 75.8%.

Elme Communities Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Elme Communities stock traded up $0.22 on Wednesday, hitting $17.12. The stock had a trading volume of 168,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 579,500. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -112.63 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.46. Elme Communities has a one year low of $12.74 and a one year high of $18.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.27). Elme Communities had a negative return on equity of 1.16% and a negative net margin of 5.51%. The firm had revenue of $61.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.24 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Elme Communities will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ELME. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Elme Communities from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Elme Communities in a report on Monday, October 21st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Elme Communities from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th.

Elme Communities Company Profile

Elme Communities is committed to elevating what home can be for middle-income renters by providing a higher level of quality, service, and experience. The Company is a multifamily real estate investment trust that owns and operates approximately 9,400 apartment homes in the Washington, DC metro and the Atlanta metro regions, and owns approximately 300,000 square feet of commercial space.