Equity Residential (EQR) Competitors

AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) and Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends and institutional ownership.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in AVB or EQR?

92.6% of AvalonBay Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of Equity Residential shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of AvalonBay Communities shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Equity Residential shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is AVB or EQR more profitable?

AvalonBay Communities has a net margin of 38.86% compared to Equity Residential's net margin of 33.11%. AvalonBay Communities' return on equity of 9.65% beat Equity Residential's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AvalonBay Communities	38.86%	9.65%	5.42%
Equity Residential	33.11%	8.93%	4.86%

Which has more volatility & risk, AVB or EQR?

AvalonBay Communities has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equity Residential has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer AVB or EQR?

In the previous week, AvalonBay Communities had 4 more articles in the media than Equity Residential. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for AvalonBay Communities and 10 mentions for Equity Residential. Equity Residential's average media sentiment score of 1.34 beat AvalonBay Communities' score of 1.08 indicating that Equity Residential is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AvalonBay Communities	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Equity Residential	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is AVB or EQR a better dividend stock?

AvalonBay Communities pays an annual dividend of $7.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Equity Residential pays an annual dividend of $2.77 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. AvalonBay Communities pays out 87.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Equity Residential pays out 105.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. AvalonBay Communities has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Equity Residential has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Equity Residential is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts prefer AVB or EQR?

AvalonBay Communities presently has a consensus target price of $235.86, suggesting a potential upside of 17.36%. Equity Residential has a consensus target price of $79.25, suggesting a potential upside of 19.59%. Given Equity Residential's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Equity Residential is more favorable than AvalonBay Communities.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AvalonBay Communities	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.47
Equity Residential	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, AVB or EQR?

AvalonBay Communities has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Equity Residential. AvalonBay Communities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equity Residential, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AvalonBay Communities	$2.91B	9.82	$1.08B	$8.03	25.03
Equity Residential	$2.98B	8.45	$1.04B	$2.62	25.29

Summary

Equity Residential beats AvalonBay Communities on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.