Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Research Coverage Started at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in a research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $81.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on EQR. UBS Group increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Equity Residential from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $72.84.

Equity Residential Price Performance

NYSE EQR opened at $74.37 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $28.23 billion, a PE ratio of 30.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.87. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $52.57 and a 52 week high of $76.75. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.46.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.49). Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The business had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $735.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its position in Equity Residential by 41.9% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 3.8% during the first quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 32.7% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 811 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 12.4% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,826 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.