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 high quality long-term renters. Equity Residential owns or has investments in 305 properties consisting of 78,568 apartment units, located in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Francisco, Southern California and Denver.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on EQR shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised Equity Residential from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $79.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 22nd. Mizuho decreased their price target on Equity Residential from $84.00 to $79.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 27th. TheStreet lowered Equity Residential from a "b" rating to a "c+" rating in a research note on Friday, May 6th. Credit Suisse Group assumed coverage on Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, June 22nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on Equity Residential from $92.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $84.18.
Equity Residential Price Performance
NYSE:EQR opened at $78.63 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $29.57 billion, a PE ratio of 23.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.81. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $67.48 and a 12 month high of $94.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company's 50-day moving average price is $73.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.12.
Equity Residential Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 27th were issued a $0.625 dividend. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 24th. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.08%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Equity Residential news, Director Mark S. Shapiro sold 6,665 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.10, for a total transaction of $467,216.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,497 shares in the company, valued at $876,039.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.