Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.18

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, November 4th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Thursday, December 19th will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share on Monday, January 6th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 19th.

Elme Communities has increased its dividend by an average of 30.8% annually over the last three years. Elme Communities has a dividend 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. 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 Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of ELME traded up $0.27 on Wednesday, hitting $17.17. 194,520 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 579,621. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.55. Elme Communities has a one year low of $12.74 and a one year high of $18.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a PE ratio of -112.63 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.46.

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.03) EPS 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 company had revenue of $61.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.31 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.24 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Elme Communities will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ELME has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Elme Communities from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Elme Communities from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Elme Communities in a report on Monday, October 21st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock.

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.