Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target Raised to $73.00

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its target price lifted by Truist Financial from $67.00 to $73.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. 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 note on Monday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. 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 note on Tuesday, May 14th. 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 note on Monday, April 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $68.47.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQR opened at $68.02 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $65.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.69. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $52.57 and a 12-month high of $69.57. The firm has a market cap of $25.82 billion, a PE ratio of 28.22, 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 (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 31.70% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The company 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 firm posted $0.87 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Mary Kay Haben sold 3,241 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.48, for a total transaction of $212,220.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,720 shares in the company, valued at $636,465.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of Equity Residential 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,006,910.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,625 shares of company stock worth $913,158. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EQR. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 11.5% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 5,320 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $312,000 after buying an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 39.3% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 234,022 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,739,000 after purchasing an additional 65,982 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the third quarter valued at about $83,000. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 4.2% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 50,084 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,941,000 after purchasing an additional 2,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 3.6% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 70,828 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,158,000 after purchasing an additional 2,435 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.