Evercore ISI Boosts Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target to $70.00

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price target hoisted by Evercore ISI from $67.00 to $70.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on EQR. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a buy rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Piper Sandler reissued a neutral rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Equity Residential from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Equity Residential from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and increased their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $66.04.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

EQR stock opened at $65.14 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $61.99 and a 200-day moving average of $59.84. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $52.57 and a 12-month high of $69.45. The firm has a market cap of $24.68 billion, a PE ratio of 27.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 31.70%. The business had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $728.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. Equity Residential’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were given a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. This is an increase from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equity Residential news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at $1,384,252.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Equity Residential news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at $1,384,252.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $50,632.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,209,927.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,280 shares of company stock worth $192,335. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 593.9% during the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 458 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 120.8% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 488 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 92.68% of the stock is owned by 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.