UDR, Inc. (NYSE:UDR) Raises Dividend to $0.43 Per Share

UDR, Inc. (NYSE:UDR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 13th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.43 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. This is a 1.2% increase from UDR’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43.

UDR has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.5% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. UDR has a dividend payout ratio of 274.2% 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 UDR to earn $2.61 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.1%.

UDR Stock Performance

Shares of UDR opened at $42.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 5.61 and a quick ratio of 5.91. UDR has a one year low of $35.14 and a one year high of $47.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 170.16, a PEG ratio of 8.67 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a fifty day moving average of $42.49 and a 200 day moving average of $43.80.

UDR (NYSE:UDR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.53. UDR had a return on equity of 2.65% and a net margin of 5.36%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that UDR will post 2.51 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on UDR shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on UDR from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded UDR from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on UDR from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded UDR from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on UDR from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.12.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Thomas W. Toomey sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $1,068,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 824,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,256,609. This represents a 2.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.73% of the company’s stock.

UDR Company Profile

UDR, Inc (NYSE: UDR), an S&P 500 company, is a leading multifamily real estate investment trust with a demonstrated performance history of delivering superior and dependable returns by successfully managing, buying, selling, developing and redeveloping attractive real estate communities in targeted U.S.