Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Upgraded at BMO Capital Markets

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) was upgraded by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a $70.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $68.00. BMO Capital Markets’ price target suggests a potential upside of 13.75% from the stock’s previous close.

EQR has been the subject of a number of other reports. Raymond James upgraded Equity Residential from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Equity Residential from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. 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 report on Monday, February 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $64.00 price target for the company. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on Equity Residential from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.75.

Equity Residential Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE EQR opened at $61.54 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $23.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.84. Equity Residential has a one year low of $52.57 and a one year high of $69.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $61.51 and its 200-day moving average is $59.68.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $727.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $725.07 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 29.07%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Equity Residential

In other news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,384,252.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Equity Residential news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 31,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,479.79. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,384,252.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,280 shares of company stock worth $192,335. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,395,793 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,369,707,000 after acquiring an additional 372,181 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,143,388,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,983,779 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,515,182,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269,082 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,886,439 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,216,257,000 after purchasing an additional 189,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management US Inc. lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,598,251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $709,349,000 after purchasing an additional 71,716 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

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.