Ladenburg Thalmann analyst Daniel Donlan said the 9% drop in Independence Realty Trust shares following its agreement to acquire a nine property portfolio for $228.1M and 12.5M share follow-on offering was not warranted, noting the news prompted him to make minimal changes to his earnings and NAV estimates. The analyst, who sees the stock's valuation as deeply discounted, keeps a Buy rating on Independence Realty.

Same-store portfolio net operating income growth of 2.4% for the quarter ended March 31, 2024 compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2023. "For the first quarter of 2024, we delivered a 3.4% increase in same-store revenue, supported by our focus on driving occupancy. Our same-store average occupancy improved 120 basis points in the quarter on a year-over-year basis to 94.4%, and we continued to see positive momentum in April, with average occupancy rising to 95.0%," said Scott Schaeffer, Chairman and CEO of IRT. "We also continued to successfully execute our business plan, including the advancement of our Portfolio Optimization and Deleveraging Strategy. As of March 31, 2024, we had sold nine of the ten non-core assets and exited four single-asset markets while further strengthening our balance sheet, which helped us achieve an investment grade rating from Fitch Ratings, as announced last month. We look forward to building on our first quarter successes during the remainder of the year."