Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on EQR. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $69.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, August 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $77.75 to $81.50 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.25.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $73.79 on Wednesday. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $57.33 and a twelve month high of $78.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $28.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a PEG ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $73.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.82.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Residential

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 5,925,177 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 806.4% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,259,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $317,136,000 after purchasing an additional 3,789,234 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 1,459.8% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,949,473 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $145,158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824,494 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 29.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,746,494 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $576,804,000 after purchasing an additional 1,741,840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 679.0% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 594,774 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,528,000 after purchasing an additional 518,424 shares during 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.