Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Updates Q2 Earnings Guidance

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) updated its second quarter earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $0.92-0.96 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.96.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EQR. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Raymond James raised Equity Residential from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $65.75.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of EQR traded up $0.55 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $63.09. 2,479,300 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,063,783. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $52.57 and a 1-year high of $69.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $61.58 and a 200-day moving average of $59.71. The stock has a market cap of $23.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.84.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $728.09 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 29.07% and a return on equity of 7.43%. Equity Residential’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. Analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a $0.675 dividend. This is a boost from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.28%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is 122.73%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $50,632.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,209,927.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $50,632.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,209,927.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,384,252.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,280 shares of company stock valued at $192,335 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

About Equity Residential

Equity Residential is committed to creating communities where people thrive. The Company, a member of the S&P 500, is focused on the acquisition, development and management of residential properties located in and around dynamic cities that attract affluent long-term renters. Equity Residential owns or has investments in 305 properties consisting of 80,683 apartment units, with an established presence in Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Seattle, San Francisco and Southern California, and an expanding presence in Denver, Atlanta, Dallas/Ft.