Shares of BRT Apartments Corp. shot up 19% in afternoon trade Tuesday to a nine-year high, after the real estate investment trust initiated a dividend and renewed its stock repurchase program. The company said it will pay a quarterly dividend of 18 cents a share on Oct. 4 to shareholders of record on Sept. 25. At current prices, the new annual dividend rate implies a dividend yield of 7.68%, compared with the SPDR Real Estate Select Sector ETF’s dividend yield of 3.09%. The last time BRT paid a dividend was September 2009, according to FactSet data. BRT said that starting Oct. 1, it can buy back up to $5 million worth of its common stock over the next couple years. The stock had rallied 18% over the past three months, while the real estate ETF had gained 2.0% and the S&P 500 had tacked on 2.6%.
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