Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) to Issue $0.68 Quarterly Dividend

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, September 13th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be given a dividend of 0.675 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, October 11th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 24th.

Equity Residential has increased its dividend by an average of 3.2% annually over the last three years. Equity Residential has a dividend payout ratio of 164.6% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Equity Residential to earn $4.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.2%.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of EQR stock opened at $76.58 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $72.72 and its 200 day moving average is $67.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $29.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.78, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $52.57 and a twelve month high of $78.83.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its 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). Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 32.83%. The business had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $735.26 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho lifted their price target on Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.62.

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.