Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Stock Rating Upgraded by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $83.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous price target of $62.00.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a neutral rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $74.62.

Equity Residential Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Equity Residential stock opened at $77.40 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $29.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.12, a PEG ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21. Equity Residential has a one year low of $52.57 and a one year high of $77.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $71.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.91.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st were issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.49%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is currently 112.03%.

Insider Transactions at Equity Residential

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 569,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,962,000 after acquiring an additional 152,736 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 165,650 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,131,000 after buying an additional 20,010 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 551,960 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,482,000 after buying an additional 27,171 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 200.9% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 77,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,861,000 after buying an additional 51,423 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 1.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,267,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,279,095,000 after buying an additional 381,236 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.