Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.68

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, September 13th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be paid a dividend of 0.675 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, October 11th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 24th.

Equity Residential has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.2% per year over the last three years. Equity Residential has a dividend payout ratio of 164.6% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Equity Residential to earn $4.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.2%.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.6 %

EQR stock opened at $76.58 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $29.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.78, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $52.57 and a twelve month high of $78.83. The company’s 50 day moving average is $72.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.69.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 32.83%. Equity Residential’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on EQR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. Wedbush boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas began coverage on Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $83.00 price target for the company. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.62.

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.