Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average 1-year price target of $78.81 from analysts.
• The company reported $0.95 EPS in its last quarterly earnings, exceeding the consensus estimate by $0.02.
• Equity Residential has a current dividend yield of 4.11%, with a recent quarterly dividend of $0.6925 per share paid to shareholders.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the sixteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $78.81.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on EQR shares. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Evercore ISI raised Equity Residential from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $74.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Equity Residential from $84.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of EQR stock traded down $1.82 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $65.96. The company had a trading volume of 589,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,856,807. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $67.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.23. The stock has a market cap of $25.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.20, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.88. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $59.41 and a 52-week high of $78.83.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $760.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $769.43 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 33.11%. Equity Residential's revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th were paid a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 24th. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 105.73%.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Equity Residential in the 1st quarter valued at $165,442,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Equity Residential by 53.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,476,004 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $464,718,000 after acquiring an additional 2,246,555 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Equity Residential by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,711,588 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,482,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101,027 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Equity Residential by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,522,442 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $468,050,000 after acquiring an additional 696,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adelante Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Equity Residential by 172.1% in the 4th quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,077,337 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $77,310,000 after acquiring an additional 681,356 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.