Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in a research note published on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $83.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

EQR has been the subject of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Equity Residential from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $74.62.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE EQR opened at $76.73 on Wednesday. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $76.94. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $71.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.21 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.12 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a PEG ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 0.89.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.96 by ($0.49). The business had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.03%.

Insider Transactions at Equity Residential

In related news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,143,388,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Equity Residential by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,267,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,279,095,000 after buying an additional 381,236 shares during the period. APG Asset Management US Inc. raised its stake in Equity Residential by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,598,251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $709,349,000 after buying an additional 71,716 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,325,268 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $570,333,000 after acquiring an additional 516,941 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 482.3% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,153,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $496,040,000 after acquiring an additional 5,925,177 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

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.