Wedbush Increases Earnings Estimates for Equity Residential

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) – Research analysts at Wedbush upped their FY2025 earnings per share estimates for Equity Residential in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, May 5th. Wedbush analyst R. Anderson now anticipates that the real estate investment trust will post earnings per share of $3.99 for the year, up from their previous forecast of $3.96. The consensus estimate for Equity Residential’s current full-year earnings is $3.98 per share.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.71.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.4 %

EQR opened at $70.53 on Wednesday. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $59.41 and a fifty-two week high of $78.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $26.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $69.25 and its 200 day moving average is $71.09.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $760.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.43 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 34.76% and a return on equity of 9.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.6925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.93%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is 105.73%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 9,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total value of $683,728.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 26,781 shares in the company, valued at $1,930,106.67. This trade represents a 26.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $46,262.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,840,340.34. The trade was a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,763 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,217 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Residential

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth $2,493,426,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Equity Residential by 53.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,476,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $464,718,000 after buying an additional 2,246,555 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,522,442 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $468,050,000 after buying an additional 696,343 shares in the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Equity Residential by 172.1% in the 4th quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,077,337 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $77,310,000 after acquiring an additional 681,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 8.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,745,615 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $576,737,000 after acquiring an additional 591,866 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.