Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reissued their neutral rating on shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $62.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on EQR. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a hold rating and a $64.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a buy rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays cut 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 report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $66.04.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of EQR opened at $63.11 on Tuesday. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $52.57 and a 1-year high of $69.45. 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 capitalization of $23.95 billion, a PE ratio of 28.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $60.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.55.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.18). Equity Residential had a net margin of 29.07% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The business had revenue of $727.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $725.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. Equity Residential’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.81 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.28%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is currently 122.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total value of $97,405.77. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,053 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,479.79. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $50,632.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,927.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 transaction of $97,405.77. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,479.79. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,280 shares of company stock worth $192,335. 1.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Equity Residential by 0.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,395,793 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,369,707,000 after purchasing an additional 372,181 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter valued at $2,143,388,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in 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 valued at $1,515,182,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269,082 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,886,439 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,216,257,000 after purchasing an additional 189,720 shares during the period. Finally, APG Asset Management US Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,598,251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $709,349,000 after purchasing an additional 71,716 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.