Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Issues Q2 Earnings Guidance

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) issued an update on its second quarter earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $0.92-0.96 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $0.96. Equity Residential also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 3.800-3.900 EPS.

Equity Residential Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of EQR traded up $1.87 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $64.96. The company had a trading volume of 1,575,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,064,930. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.84. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $52.57 and a 52-week high of $69.45.

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

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. 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. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 122.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EQR. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Raymond James raised Equity Residential from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised Equity Residential from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $65.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 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 transaction of $50,632.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,209,927.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $50,632.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,209,927.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total value of $97,405.77. Following the completion of the sale, 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 quarter, insiders sold 3,280 shares of company stock valued at $192,335. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.