Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Downgraded by Wells Fargo & Company to Equal Weight

Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report issued on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $77.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $69.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on EQR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Evercore ISI downgraded Equity Residential from an outperform rating to an in-line rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Wedbush lifted 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $71.66.

Equity Residential Stock Down 1.0 %

EQR stock opened at $72.93 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $69.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.59. The stock has a market cap of $27.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.26, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $52.57 and a twelve month high of $73.83.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 32.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st were paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $439,141.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Equity Residential in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 41.9% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 146.6% in the second quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 550 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the period. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Equity Residential in the first quarter worth approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

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.