Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Receives "Sector Perform" Rating from Scotiabank

Key Points

• Scotiabank reiterated a "sector perform" rating for Equity Residential (EQR) with a revised target price of $77.00, suggesting a potential upside of 21.79% from its current price.
• Equity Residential reported earnings of $0.99 per share for the last quarter, meeting analyst expectations, with revenue slightly below estimates at $768.83 million.
• Hedge funds own approximately 92.68% of Equity Residential's stock, with several institutions significantly increasing their stakes during recent quarters.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "sector perform" rating reissued by research analysts at Scotiabank in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $77.00 target price on the real estate investment trust's stock, down from their prior target price of $78.00. Scotiabank's price objective indicates a potential upside of 20.11% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on EQR. Wall Street Zen cut Equity Residential from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $80.50 target price on Equity Residential and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Barclays cut their target price on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Equity Residential from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Equity Residential from $76.50 to $75.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $77.78.

Equity Residential Trading Up 0.9%

EQR stock traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $64.11. 3,890,265 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,380,739. 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. The business has a 50 day moving average of $66.56 and a 200-day moving average of $68.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.92.

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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 33.22%. The business had revenue of $768.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EQR. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 425.3% during the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 415 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 51.6% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 461 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the 1st quarter valued at $37,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1,000.0% during the 2nd quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 660 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the 1st quarter valued at $47,000. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.