Equity Residential’s (EQR) “Neutral” Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

Wedbush restated their neutral rating on shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $68.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Equity Residential’s Q2 2024 earnings at $0.96 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $1.01 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $1.04 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $3.95 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $4.06 EPS.

EQR has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and boosted their target price for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Equity Residential from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $67.04.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $64.04 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $24.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.23. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $52.57 and a 1 year high of $69.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $62.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.93.

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

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This is a boost from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,384,252.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at $1,384,252.20. The sale 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,479.79. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,548 shares of company stock valued at $666,351 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 593.9% in 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 bought a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 120.8% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 488 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

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.