Piper Sandler Increases Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target to $70.00

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its target price lifted by analysts at Piper Sandler from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 7.46% from the company’s previous close.

EQR has been the topic of a number of other reports. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $64.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Equity Residential from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.61.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Equity Residential stock opened at $65.14 on Monday. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $52.57 and a 12 month high of $69.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.84. The company has a market cap of $24.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.03, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.84.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 31.70% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The company had revenue of $730.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $728.09 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Equity Residential

In related news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,384,252.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Equity Residential news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $41,384.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,384,252.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total value of $97,405.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 31,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,479.79. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,280 shares of company stock worth $192,335. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 69,333.3% in the first quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 4,166 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 4,160 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the 1st quarter worth $350,000. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Equity Residential during the first quarter valued at $213,000. Carmel Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 11.8% in the first quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $371,000 after buying an additional 619 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 212,734 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,426,000 after acquiring an additional 3,623 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.