Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02, RTT News reports. Equity Residential had a net margin of 29.07% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The company had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $728.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equity Residential updated its Q2 guidance to $0.92-0.96 EPS.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQR traded up $0.55 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $63.09. 2,479,404 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,073,714. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $52.57 and a 1 year high of $69.45. The company has a market cap of $23.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.43, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.84. 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 simple moving average of $61.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.71.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.28%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 122.73%.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “hold” rating and a $64.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.75.

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.