Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Upgraded at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research note released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $80.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $70.00.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on EQR. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI downgraded Equity Residential from an outperform rating to an in-line rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, May 13th. Raymond James upgraded Equity Residential from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Equity Residential from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $69.09.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

EQR stock opened at $68.12 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $66.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.85 billion, a PE ratio of 28.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.87. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $69.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

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 business had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $728.09 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 31.70%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be issued a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other news, EVP Alexander Brackenridge sold 4,027 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $261,795.27. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 69,901 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,544,264.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Equity Residential news, EVP Alexander Brackenridge sold 4,027 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $261,795.27. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 69,901 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,544,264.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mary Kay Haben sold 3,241 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.48, for a total transaction of $212,220.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,465.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,625 shares of company stock worth $913,158 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Residential

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth $2,143,388,000. Davis Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,160,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,325,268 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $570,333,000 after purchasing an additional 516,941 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 77.5% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,061,862 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $67,014,000 after purchasing an additional 463,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 793.8% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 444,791 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,071,000 after purchasing an additional 395,029 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equity Residential Company Profile

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.