Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) PT Raised to $73.00

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price objective upped by Scotiabank from $72.00 to $73.00 in a report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on EQR. Evercore ISI downgraded Equity Residential from an outperform rating to an in-line rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Wedbush increased their target price on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Equity Residential from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and increased their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. 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 report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $70.91.

Equity Residential Stock Up 1.4 %

EQR traded up $0.96 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $71.35. 1,206,120 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,988,336. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business’s 50 day moving average is $68.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.55. The stock has a market cap of $27.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.61, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.87. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $72.32.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.49). The firm had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 32.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st were paid a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.03%.

Insider Activity at Equity Residential

In related news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $439,141.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Equity Residential during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Equity Residential by 120.8% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 488 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 41.9% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 146.6% during the second quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 550 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.