Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target Raised to $76.00

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price objective raised by Evercore ISI from $75.00 to $76.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an in-line rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on EQR. Mizuho boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Wedbush boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Equity Residential from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and upped their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $75.62.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of EQR stock opened at $77.08 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.45. Equity Residential has a one year low of $52.57 and a one year high of $78.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.26 billion, a PE ratio of 31.98, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.21 and a quick ratio of 0.21.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.96 by ($0.49). Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The business had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $735.26 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. Equity Residential’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be given a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is currently 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Equity Residential by 36.6% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 569,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,962,000 after purchasing an additional 152,736 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in Equity Residential by 13.7% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 20,010 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 200.9% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 77,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,861,000 after acquiring an additional 51,423 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,267,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,279,095,000 after acquiring an additional 381,236 shares during the period. Finally, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the 2nd quarter worth $3,893,000. 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.