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

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 19th.

Elme Communities has raised its dividend by an average of 154.1% annually over the last three years. Elme Communities has a payout ratio of -720.0% 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 $0.94 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 Price Performance

NYSE:ELME opened at $17.28 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $15.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Elme Communities has a 12 month low of $12.74 and a 12 month high of $18.49.

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Elme Communities will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ELME has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Elme Communities in a research note on Monday, October 21st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Elme Communities from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Truist Financial raised Elme Communities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th.

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.