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

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, November 4th,Zacks Dividends reports. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 19th.

Elme Communities has increased its dividend payment by an average of 30.8% annually 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. 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 Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ELME opened at $16.35 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $16.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.69. Elme Communities has a 12-month low of $12.74 and a 12-month high of $18.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of -108.96 and a beta of 0.89. 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 announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $61.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.31 million. Elme Communities had a negative return on equity of 1.17% and a negative net margin of 5.51%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.24 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Elme Communities will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.