Equity Residential’s (EQR) “Sector Perform” Rating Reiterated at Scotiabank

Scotiabank reiterated their sector perform rating on shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $77.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their prior target price of $78.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada increased 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. Barclays dropped their price target on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen cut Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Equity Residential from $76.50 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.78.

Equity Residential Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of Equity Residential stock opened at $64.11 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.19, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.92. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $59.41 and a twelve month high of $78.83.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99. The business had revenue of $768.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.60 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 33.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th were paid a dividend of $0.6925 per share. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 24th. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 104.53%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Residential

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FORA Capital LLC boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 162.9% during the 2nd quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 18,999 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,282,000 after purchasing an additional 11,773 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 899,746 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $60,744,000 after purchasing an additional 63,291 shares in the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new position in Equity Residential during the 2nd quarter valued at $68,000. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 677,231 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $45,706,000 after purchasing an additional 59,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 25,480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,720,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.