Scotiabank Boosts Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target to $73.00

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

Several other brokerages have also commented on EQR. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Equity Residential currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $70.91.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of Equity Residential stock traded up $0.96 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $71.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,206,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,988,336. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $68.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.55. The firm has a market cap of $27.08 billion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G 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. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.49). The business had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EQR. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 120.8% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 41.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 146.6% during the 2nd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 550 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

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.