Equity Residential’s (EQR) Neutral Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Wedbush reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $68.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James upgraded shares of Equity Residential from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Equity Residential from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and increased their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $67.04.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of Equity Residential stock opened at $65.30 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $62.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.87. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $69.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $24.74 billion, a PE ratio of 27.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.84.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $730.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $728.09 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 31.70%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. This is a boost from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is currently 112.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equity Residential news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $41,384.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,384,252.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total value of $97,405.77. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 31,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,479.79. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $41,384.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,384,252.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,280 shares of company stock valued at $192,335 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 39.3% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 234,022 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,739,000 after buying an additional 65,982 shares in the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,110,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 61.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 64,809 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,805,000 after purchasing an additional 24,787 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 128.7% in the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 11,372 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $668,000 after purchasing an additional 6,400 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 743,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $43,636,000 after purchasing an additional 82,773 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

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.