Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) to Issue $0.68 Quarterly Dividend

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 12th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.675 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%.

Equity Residential has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.2% annually over the last three years. Equity Residential has a dividend payout ratio of 165.6% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Equity Residential to earn $4.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.0%.

Equity Residential Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE EQR traded up $1.01 during trading on Thursday, hitting $73.79. The company had a trading volume of 1,479,121 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,815,051. The company has a current ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Equity Residential has a one year low of $57.33 and a one year high of $78.83. The company has a market cap of $28.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s fifty day moving average is $73.93 and its 200-day moving average is $71.82.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed 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 on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.25.

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.