Equity Residential Short Interest Ratio and Short Volume

Short interest is the volume of Equity Residential shares that have been sold short but have not yet been closed out or covered. As of December 31st, traders have sold 9,290,000 shares of EQR short. 2.55% of Equity Residential's shares are currently sold short. View details.

The short interest ratio, also known as the "days to cover ratio", is calculated by dividing the number of shares of a stock sold short divided by its average trading volume. A short interest ratio ranging between 1 and 4 generally indicates strong positive sentiment about a stock and a lack of short sellers. A short interest ratio of 10 or greater indicates strong pessimism about a stock. Equity Residential currently has a short interest ratio of 3.0.

Companies that have a short interest as a percentage of float below 10% indicates positive investor sentiment and few short sellers. Stocks with a short interest percentage above 10% is considered high, suggesting some investors are pessimistic about the stock. Companies with a short interest percentage of 20% or more indicates widespread negative sentiment. 2.55% of Equity Residential's floating shares are currently sold short.

Equity Residential saw a drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 9,290,000 shares, a drop of 0.3% from the previous total of 9,320,000 shares. Changes in short volume can be used to identify positive and negative investor sentiment. Investors that short sell a stock are betting that its price will decline in the future. An increase in short sale volume suggests bearish (negative) sentiment among investors. A decrease on short sale volume suggests bullish (positive) sentiment.

Equity Residential currently has issued a total of 372,253,000 shares. Some of Equity Residential's outstanding shares are available for trading, while others are subject to various restrictions. The public float, also referred to as floating shares or "the float", are shares that publicly owned, unrestricted and available to trade on the open market. Equity Residential currently has a public float of 364,750,000 shares.

2.55% of Equity Residential's shares are currently sold short. Here is how the short interest of companies in the sub-industry of "residential reits" compare to Equity Residential: AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (1.86%), Essex Property Trust, Inc. (1.37%), Sun Communities, Inc. (0.00%), Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (1.19%), UDR, Inc. (0.00%), Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (0.00%), Camden Property Trust (1.63%), American Campus Communities, Inc. (3.09%), UMH Properties, Inc. (1.29%), and Apartment Investment and Management (6.45%).

As of the most recent reporting period, the following stocks had the largest short interest positions: Charter Communications, Inc. ($5.18 billion), ViacomCBS Inc. ($4.71 billion), Analog Devices, Inc. ($4.45 billion), Aon Plc ($4.28 billion), Snap Inc. ($3.70 billion), Moderna, Inc. ($3.00 billion), The Clorox Company ($2.46 billion), Peloton Interactive, Inc. ($2.40 billion), The Kroger Co. ($2.38 billion), and Expedia Group, Inc. ($2.37 billion). View all of the most shorted stocks.

Short selling EQR is an investing strategy that aims to generate trading profit from Equity Residential as its price is falling. Equity Residential's stock is trading up $1.20 today. To short Equity Residential stock, an investor borrows shares, sells them and buys the shares back on the public market later to return it to the lender. Short sellers are betting that Equity Residential will decline in price. If the stock does drop after selling, the short seller buys it back at a lower price and returns it to the lender. The difference between the sell price and the buy price is the trader's profit.

A short squeeze for Equity Residential occurs when it has a large amount of short interest and its stock appreciates in price. This forces short sellers to cover their short interest positions by buying actual shares of EQR, which in turn drives the price of the stock up even further.

Short interest is typically published by a stock exchange once per month. However, NASDAQ publishes a report for U.S. stocks, including EQR, twice per month. The most recent reporting period available is December, 31 2020.