Equity Residential to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.69 (NYSE:EQR)

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, June 13th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be paid a dividend of 0.6925 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, July 11th. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%.

Equity Residential has a payout ratio of 205.2% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Equity Residential to earn $4.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.77 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.8%.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of Equity Residential stock traded down $1.40 during trading on Friday, hitting $68.77. 1,586,511 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,717,547. The stock has a market cap of $26.13 billion, a PE ratio of 25.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock's fifty day moving average is $68.77 and its 200 day moving average is $70.35. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $59.41 and a 12 month high of $78.84.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 34.76% and a return on equity of 9.27%. The company had revenue of $760.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $769.43 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.25.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Equity Residential stock. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 3.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,489 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 226 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Equity Residential were worth $536,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company's stock.

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.