Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Earns “Neutral” Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in a research note released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Wedbush currently has a $75.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Equity Residential’s FY2025 earnings at $3.98 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $1.03 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $1.04 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.06 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $1.07 EPS.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.50.

Equity Residential Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of EQR opened at $70.08 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89. 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 52 week low of $59.41 and a 52 week high of $78.84.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $760.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.43 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 34.76% and a return on equity of 9.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.6925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.95%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is presently 105.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Residential

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,493,426,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Equity Residential during the 1st quarter worth approximately $165,442,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Equity Residential by 53.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,246,555 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Equity Residential by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,711,588 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,482,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101,027 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Equity Residential by 12.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 696,343 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.