UDR initiated with an Overweight at Barclays

Barclays analyst Richard Hightower initiated coverage of UDR (UDR) with an Overweight rating and $50 price target as part of a broader research note on REITs. The company’s prevailing portfolio construction philosophy – a healthy mix of East Coast, West Coast, and Sunbelt, along with varying concentrations of A vs. B, Urban vs. Suburban, etc. within those geographies – plus moderately higher balance sheet leverage than its large cap peers make UDR a “slightly levered index play” on the U.S. apartment sector at large, the analyst tells investors in a research note.