Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from 16 analysts, with nine ratings at hold and seven at buy.
• The company recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.99, meeting analyst expectations, and anticipates a FY 2025 EPS guidance between $3.970 and $4.030.
• A quarterly dividend of $0.6925 per share will be paid on October 10th, yielding an annualized dividend of 4.5%, despite a high payout ratio of 104.53%.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from the sixteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $74.3214.

EQR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Equity Residential from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Equity Residential from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $80.50 price target on shares of Equity Residential and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CVA Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of Equity Residential by 425.3% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 415 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the first quarter worth approximately $37,000. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the first quarter worth approximately $47,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Equity Residential by 1,000.0% during the second quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 660 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the first quarter worth approximately $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $61.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $23.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.90. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $59.41 and a 52 week high of $78.32. The company's 50-day moving average price is $64.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99. Equity Residential had a net margin of 33.22% and a return on equity of 9.05%. The firm had revenue of $768.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $770.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equity Residential has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.970-4.030 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.990-1.030 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.6925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 25th. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 104.53%.

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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