Insider Selling: Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) CFO Sells $439,141.56 in Stock

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the sale, 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 is accessible through this hyperlink.

Equity Residential Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE EQR opened at $69.36 on Friday. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $52.57 and a 1-year high of $69.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $66.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market capitalization of $26.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.78, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.85.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 31.70% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The company had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $728.09 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. Equity Residential’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 1st. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.03%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Equity Residential by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 5,320 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Equity Residential by 39.3% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 234,022 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,739,000 after purchasing an additional 65,982 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Equity Residential in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $83,000. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in Equity Residential by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 50,084 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,941,000 after purchasing an additional 2,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its position in Equity Residential by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 70,828 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,158,000 after purchasing an additional 2,435 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EQR. Scotiabank raised their price target on Equity Residential from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI downgraded Equity Residential from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Equity Residential from $67.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.09.

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.