Scotiabank Boosts Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target to $81.00

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

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on EQR. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group increased their price target on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a hold rating to a buy rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an outperform rating and a $83.00 price objective on the stock. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $75.62.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of EQR opened at $77.77 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $29.52 billion, a PE ratio of 32.27, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $71.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.27. 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 twelve month low of $52.57 and a twelve month high of $78.83.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.96 by ($0.49). Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The company had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $735.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be given a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 24th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the second quarter valued at $796,000. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 12.3% during the second quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 146,775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,177,000 after acquiring an additional 16,063 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 3.0% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 46,353 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,214,000 after acquiring an additional 1,344 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 2.3% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 12,768 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $885,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp acquired a new position in Equity Residential during the 2nd quarter worth about $341,000. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.