Piper Sandler Boosts Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target to $85.00

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price target boosted by Piper Sandler from $80.00 to $85.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on EQR. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $67.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Equity Residential from an outperform rating to an in-line rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $70.41.

Equity Residential Trading Down 0.6 %

EQR opened at $70.22 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $26.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.14, a P/E/G ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.87. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $52.57 and a 12 month high of $72.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $67.81 and a 200 day moving average of $64.22.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.96 by ($0.49). The company had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 32.83%. The company’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st were paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Residential

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 36.6% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 569,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,962,000 after purchasing an additional 152,736 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 146,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,965,000 after purchasing an additional 18,556 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 165,650 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,131,000 after purchasing an additional 20,010 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 551,960 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,482,000 after purchasing an additional 27,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 200.9% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 77,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,861,000 after purchasing an additional 51,423 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.