Robert Garechana Sells 6,357 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Stock

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Equity Residential Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE EQR traded down $0.57 on Wednesday, reaching $68.02. The company had a trading volume of 1,198,195 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,999,684. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $65.69 and its 200-day moving average is $62.69. The stock has a market cap of $25.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $52.57 and a 52 week high of $69.57.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 31.70%. The business had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $728.09 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.97%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is presently 112.03%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 7,291 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Equity Residential by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Equity Residential by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 13,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $815,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of Equity Residential by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 60,730 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,833,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tobam grew its position in shares of Equity Residential by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Tobam now owns 2,539 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $160,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Equity Residential from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Equity Residential from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.47.

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.