Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Given New $81.00 Price Target at Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays has reduced its price target for Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) from $83.00 to $81.00, while maintaining an "overweight" rating, suggesting a potential upside of 29.58% from the current stock price.
• Multiple analysts have issued conflicting ratings, with Scotiabank lowering its target to $78.00 and UBS Group dropping theirs to $76.00, while a majority maintain either "buy" or "hold" ratings on the stock.
• Equity Residential reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.99, meeting analysts' expectations, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 4.7% despite slight shortfalls in revenue expectations.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) had its price target decreased by equities research analysts at Barclays from $83.00 to $81.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the real estate investment trust's stock. Barclays's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 29.58% from the stock's current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on EQR. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 13th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $84.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $80.50 price objective on shares of Equity Residential and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Equity Residential from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $78.03.

Equity Residential Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $62.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $66.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.85. The stock has a market cap of $23.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.92. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $59.41 and a 52-week high of $78.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a current ratio of 0.17.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99. The business had revenue of $768.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.60 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 33.22%. Equity Residential's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Equity Residential by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 203,612 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $14,611,000 after acquiring an additional 33,057 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Equity Residential in the 4th quarter valued at about $13,921,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Equity Residential by 55.4% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 22,389 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 7,986 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in Equity Residential by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 4,971 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 25,231 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,811,000 after buying an additional 1,367 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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