Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Releases Q2 Earnings Guidance

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) issued an update on its second quarter earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $0.92-0.96 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.96. Equity Residential also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 3.800-3.900 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EQR. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Equity Residential from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday. Barclays dropped 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. Truist Financial lowered their price target 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a hold rating and a $64.00 price target for the company. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $65.75.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of EQR stock traded up $1.87 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $64.96. The company had a trading volume of 1,575,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,064,930. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $61.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.74. Equity Residential has a one year low of $52.57 and a one year high of $69.45. The firm has a market cap of $24.62 billion, a PE ratio of 29.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.63 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.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 29.07% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The firm had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $728.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 122.73%.

Insider Activity at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total transaction of $97,405.77. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 31,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,479.79. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the business’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 $50,632.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,927.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total transaction of $97,405.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,479.79. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,280 shares of company stock worth $192,335. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.