Evercore ISI Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Stock

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price target lifted by Evercore ISI from $74.00 to $76.00 in a report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.36.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of EQR opened at $71.00 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $70.78 and a 200 day moving average of $72.75. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $57.33 and a twelve month high of $78.83.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 99.26%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Scott Fenster sold 5,340 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $384,800.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 35,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,558,634.42. The trade was a 13.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $46,262.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,840,340.34. This trade represents a 2.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,763 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,217 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the 4th quarter valued at $2,493,426,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,922,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,796,976,000 after purchasing an additional 321,002 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,519,627 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $681,594,000 after purchasing an additional 165,683 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,897,863 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $566,749,000 after purchasing an additional 152,248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,746,494 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $576,804,000 after purchasing an additional 1,741,840 shares in 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.