Wedbush Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Wedbush reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in a report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $68.00 price objective 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.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Raymond James raised Equity Residential from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a hold rating and a $64.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho decreased their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Equity Residential from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their target price for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Equity Residential from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Monday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $67.04.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

EQR opened at $64.04 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $62.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.31 billion, a PE ratio of 26.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $52.57 and a 12-month high of $69.45.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $728.09 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 31.70% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Equity Residential

In related news, Director Mary Kay Haben sold 3,241 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.48, for a total transaction of $212,220.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,465.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Mary Kay Haben sold 3,241 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.48, for a total transaction of $212,220.68. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $636,465.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the company’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 $50,632.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,927.40. 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EQR. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Equity Residential by 39.3% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 234,022 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,739,000 after purchasing an additional 65,982 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,110,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Equity Residential by 61.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 64,809 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,805,000 after acquiring an additional 24,787 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its position in Equity Residential by 128.7% in the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 11,372 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $668,000 after acquiring an additional 6,400 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in Equity Residential by 12.5% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 743,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $43,636,000 after acquiring an additional 82,773 shares during the last quarter. 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.