Evercore Cuts Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target to $67.00

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price target trimmed by Evercore from $70.00 to $67.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on EQR. UBS Group boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut Equity Residential from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $70.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Mizuho boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.58.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of EQR opened at $60.80 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.75, a P/E/G ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.73. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $57.57 and a fifty-two week high of $72.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The business’s 50-day moving average is $61.64 and its 200-day moving average is $61.65.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $781.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $786.35 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 9.98%. Equity Residential’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.00 EPS. Equity Residential has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.940-0.980 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 4.020-4.140 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 30th will be paid a $0.7025 dividend. This represents a $2.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 30th. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 95.90%.

Insider Activity at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, EVP Catherine Carraway sold 656 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.13, for a total transaction of $42,725.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 18,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,194,419.07. This represents a 3.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 5,765 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.13, for a total value of $375,474.45. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 46,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,004,512.03. The trade was a 11.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 10,058 shares of company stock valued at $655,078. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Residential

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 2.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,597,658 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,728,296,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281,354 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 566.7% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 115,181 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,456,000 after acquiring an additional 97,906 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 34.6% in the third quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 568,408 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,446,000 after acquiring an additional 146,148 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the third quarter valued at approximately $9,094,000. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 4.6% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 605,494 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,194,000 after acquiring an additional 26,590 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Company Profile

Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates rental apartment properties. Headquartered in Chicago, the company focuses on delivering professionally managed, market-rate apartment homes and related services to renters. Its operations cover a range of property types, including high-rise and mid-rise assets, with amenities and on-site management designed to support resident retention and occupancy.

The company’s core activities include property acquisitions, development and redevelopment, leasing, and day-to-day property management.