Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Stock Rating Upgraded by Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $80.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous price target of $70.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Wedbush reiterated a neutral rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of 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 objective on Equity Residential from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $69.09.

Equity Residential Price Performance

NYSE:EQR opened at $68.12 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap 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 12 month low of $52.57 and a 12 month high of $69.65. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $66.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.89.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $728.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. Equity Residential’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Mary Kay Haben sold 3,241 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.48, for a total value of $212,220.68. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,465.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $1,006,910.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,625 shares of company stock worth $913,158. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,143,388,000. Davis Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Equity Residential in the 4th quarter valued at $61,160,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Equity Residential by 5.9% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 516,941 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 77.5% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,061,862 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $67,014,000 after buying an additional 463,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 395,029 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by 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.