Equity Residential (EQR) To Go Ex-Dividend on January 2nd

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 12th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.675 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd.

Equity Residential has raised its dividend by an average of 3.2% per year over the last three years. Equity Residential has a payout ratio of 172.0% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Equity Residential to earn $4.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.0%.

Equity Residential Trading Down 0.6 %

Equity Residential stock opened at $71.16 on Tuesday. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $57.33 and a 12 month high of $78.83. The stock has a market cap of $27.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $73.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on EQR. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Bank of America cut shares of Equity Residential from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $78.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Equity Residential from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $77.75 to $81.50 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.14.

Equity Residential Company Profile

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.