Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the seventeen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $68.09.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on EQR shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI downgraded 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 research note on Monday, May 13th. Raymond James raised shares of Equity Residential from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary Kay Haben sold 3,241 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.48, for a total transaction of $212,220.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,720 shares in the company, valued at $636,465.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Mary Kay Haben sold 3,241 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.48, for a total transaction of $212,220.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,720 shares in the company, valued at $636,465.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Alexander Brackenridge sold 4,027 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $261,795.27. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 69,901 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,544,264.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,395,793 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,369,707,000 after purchasing an additional 372,181 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter worth about $2,143,388,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 1.9% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 381,236 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,598,251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $709,349,000 after purchasing an additional 71,716 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 5.9% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 516,941 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of Equity Residential stock opened at $68.31 on Friday. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $69.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $65.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.49.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $730.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $728.09 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 31.70% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 1st. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.03%.

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.