Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Raised to “Outperform” at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $70.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $68.00.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a hold rating and a $64.00 price target for the company. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Piper Sandler reissued a neutral rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $65.75.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQR opened at $64.61 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $24.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $61.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $52.57 and a 12 month high of $69.45.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $728.09 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 29.07% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. This is an increase from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is 122.73%.

Insider Activity at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $41,384.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at $1,384,252.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Equity Residential news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $41,384.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at $1,384,252.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total transaction of $97,405.77. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 31,053 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,479.79. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,280 shares of company stock worth $192,335 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EQR. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Equity Residential by 593.9% during the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 458 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Equity Residential by 120.8% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 488 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc purchased a new position in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.