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

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, November 4th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 19th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share on Monday, January 6th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 19th.

Elme Communities has raised its dividend payment by an average of 30.8% annually over the last three years. Elme Communities has a payout ratio of -654.5% indicating that 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 Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ELME traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $17.32. 1,419,156 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 585,317. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Elme Communities has a 1 year low of $12.74 and a 1 year high of $18.49. The company's 50-day moving average is $17.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.46. The company has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -112.63 and a beta of 0.89.

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 5.51% and a negative return on equity of 1.16%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.24 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Elme Communities will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.