Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target Increased to $81.00 by Analysts at Scotiabank

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price objective boosted by Scotiabank from $77.00 to $81.00 in a report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a sector perform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a neutral rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $75.62.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.4 %

Equity Residential stock opened at $77.77 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.27, a P/E/G ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21. Equity Residential has a one year low of $52.57 and a one year high of $78.83.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.49). The company had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.89 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, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.03%.

Insider Transactions at Equity Residential

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EQR. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth approximately $208,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in Equity Residential by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,856 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $480,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV raised its position in Equity Residential by 41.8% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 85,907 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,254,000 after acquiring an additional 25,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its position in Equity Residential by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 887,030 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,251,000 after acquiring an additional 8,202 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.