Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target Raised to $81.00

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its target price lifted by Scotiabank from $77.00 to $81.00 in a research note published on Monday, Benzinga reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on EQR. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Equity Residential from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, August 26th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an outperform rating and a $83.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a neutral rating and a $81.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $75.62.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

NYSE EQR opened at $77.06 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.98, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s 50 day moving average is $72.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.52. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $52.57 and a 12-month high of $78.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.49). Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 32.83%. The business had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $735.26 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Equity Residential during the second quarter worth approximately $796,000. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 146,775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,177,000 after buying an additional 16,063 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 46,353 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,214,000 after buying an additional 1,344 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 12,768 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $885,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp acquired a new position in Equity Residential in the second quarter valued at $341,000. 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.