Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) to Issue $0.68 Quarterly Dividend

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, June 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.675 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, July 12th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 1st.

Equity Residential has raised its dividend by an average of 3.2% annually over the last three years. Equity Residential has a payout ratio of 162.7% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Equity Residential to earn $4.00 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.5%.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of EQR stock opened at $69.36 on Friday. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $52.57 and a 1-year high of $69.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market capitalization of $26.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.84.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 31.70%. The business had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $728.09 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQR has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Equity Residential from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Evercore ISI cut 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. UBS Group upped their price target on Equity Residential from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Equity Residential from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Equity Residential from $67.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.