Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Reaches New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft now has a $83.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $62.00. Equity Residential traded as high as $76.81 and last traded at $76.64, with a volume of 688402 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $75.10.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $69.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, August 26th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Equity Residential during the 2nd quarter valued at $796,000. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 12.3% during the second quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 146,775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,177,000 after purchasing an additional 16,063 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 3.0% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 46,353 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,344 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in Equity Residential by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 12,768 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $885,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp bought a new stake in Equity Residential during the 2nd quarter valued at about $341,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market capitalization of $29.14 billion, a PE ratio of 31.89, a PEG ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.76.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.49). The firm had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st were issued a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is currently 112.03%.

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.