Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02, RTT News reports. The company 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 8.19% and a net margin of 31.70%. Equity Residential’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 EPS.

Equity Residential Trading Up 2.4 %

Equity Residential stock opened at $64.61 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30. Equity Residential has a one year low of $52.57 and a one year high of $69.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.48 billion, a PE ratio of 26.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s fifty day moving average is $61.80 and its 200 day moving average is $59.77.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This is a boost from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.18%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total value of $97,405.77. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 31,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,479.79. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $50,632.80. Following the transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total value of $97,405.77. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 90 days, insiders have sold 3,280 shares of company stock valued at $192,335. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQR has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Equity Residential from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Equity Residential in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “hold” rating and a $64.00 target price for the company. 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 reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.75.

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.