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

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 19th will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share on Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 19th.

Elme Communities has increased its dividend payment by an average of 154.1% annually over the last three years. Elme Communities has a payout ratio of -720.0% indicating that 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 $0.94 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 76.6%.

Elme Communities Trading Up 11.6 %

NYSE:ELME opened at $17.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of -115.21 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $15.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.47. Elme Communities has a 12-month low of $12.74 and a 12-month high of $18.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.26. Elme Communities had a negative return on equity of 1.17% and a negative net margin of 5.51%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Elme Communities will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ELME shares. Truist Financial upgraded Elme Communities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Elme Communities from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $18.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Elme Communities in a report on Monday, October 21st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company.

About Elme Communities

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.