Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Upgraded by BMO Capital Markets to “Outperform”

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $70.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior price target of $68.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a buy rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $65.75.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

NYSE:EQR opened at $64.61 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The company has a fifty day moving average of $61.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.48 billion, a PE ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.84. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $69.45.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $728.09 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 29.07% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 122.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equity Residential news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now 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 link. In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $50,632.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,927.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,384,252.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,280 shares of company stock valued at $192,335 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dakota Wealth Management raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 51.2% in the first quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 40,920 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,585,000 after acquiring an additional 13,848 shares in the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Equity Residential in the first quarter valued at approximately $680,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 7.1% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 6,077 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. TAP Consulting LLC raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 17.3% in the first quarter. TAP Consulting LLC now owns 55,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,504,000 after acquiring an additional 8,175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Equity Residential in the first quarter valued at approximately $332,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

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.