JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target to $80.00

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price objective lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $68.00 to $80.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on EQR. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. 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 note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $75.62.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $77.08 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.45. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $52.57 and a 52-week high of $78.83. The firm has a market cap of $29.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be issued a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 112.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Equity Residential during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 41.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 146.6% during the 2nd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 550 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the period. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Equity Residential during the 1st quarter worth $41,000. 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.