Evercore ISI Raises Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target to $70.00

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its target price increased by Evercore ISI from $67.00 to $70.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Equity Residential from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Raymond James raised Equity Residential from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a buy rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a hold rating and a $64.00 target price for the company. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $66.04.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of EQR traded up $0.65 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $65.53. The company had a trading volume of 956,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,088,172. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $52.57 and a 52-week high of $69.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.93, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $61.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.81.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $730.80 million during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equity Residential news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $41,384.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at $1,384,252.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 value of $41,384.80. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total transaction of $97,405.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly 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. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EQR. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 120.8% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 488 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc acquired a new stake in Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. 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.