Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Given New $78.00 Price Target at Scotiabank

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price objective decreased by Scotiabank from $82.00 to $78.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho dropped their price target on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.25.

Equity Residential Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of EQR stock opened at $68.77 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $59.41 and a twelve month high of $78.84. The company has a market capitalization of $26.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.28, a PEG ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.90.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $760.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.43 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.27% and a net margin of 34.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be paid a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is 105.73%.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EQR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Equity Residential in the 4th quarter valued at $2,493,426,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Equity Residential in the first quarter worth $165,442,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 53.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,476,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $464,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,246,555 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 5.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,711,588 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,482,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101,027 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,522,442 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $468,050,000 after purchasing an additional 696,343 shares in the last quarter. 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.