Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target Raised to $79.00 at Scotiabank

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price objective raised by Scotiabank from $78.00 to $79.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

EQR has been the subject of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $77.75 to $81.50 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.42.

Equity Residential Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE EQR opened at $71.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.19, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.93. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $58.81 and a 52-week high of $78.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $70.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $46,262.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,840,340.34. This trade represents a 2.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 9,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total transaction of $683,728.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 26,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,930,106.67. This represents a 26.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,763 shares of company stock worth $1,424,217 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Residential

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EQR. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 607.8% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 361 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Equity Residential during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Equity Residential by 2,529.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 447 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Equity Residential during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

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.