Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.69 Per Share

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 20th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.6925 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a 2.6% increase from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68.

Equity Residential has increased its dividend by an average of 3.9% annually over the last three years. Equity Residential has a dividend payout ratio of 191.5% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Equity Residential to earn $4.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.1%.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.5 %

EQR stock opened at $69.85 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.66. The company has a market capitalization of $26.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $59.48 and a 12 month high of $78.84.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Scott Fenster sold 5,340 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $384,800.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,507 shares in the company, valued at $2,558,634.42. This represents a 13.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 9,487 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total transaction of $683,728.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 26,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,930,106.67. This trade represents a 26.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,763 shares of company stock worth $1,424,217 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.51.

Equity Residential Company Profile

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.