Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Given New $70.00 Price Target at Piper Sandler

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price objective increased by Piper Sandler from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Equity Residential from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a buy rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Equity Residential from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $67.04.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $64.04 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $62.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.84. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $52.57 and a 1 year high of $69.45.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $730.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $728.09 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 31.70% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This is an increase from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equity Residential news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,384,252.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $50,632.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,933 shares in the company, valued at $1,209,927.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $41,384.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,384,252.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,548 shares of company stock valued at $666,351. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at $2,143,388,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 68.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,416,565 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $259,297,000 after purchasing an additional 1,795,772 shares during the last quarter. Davis Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Equity Residential in the 4th quarter worth $61,160,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 13.8% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,206,249 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $305,659,000 after purchasing an additional 629,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Equity Residential by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,325,268 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $570,333,000 after buying an additional 516,941 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.