Evercore ISI Cuts Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target to $71.00

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its target price trimmed by Evercore ISI from $72.00 to $71.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

EQR has been the topic of several other reports. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays upped their price target on Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.78.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

NYSE EQR opened at $63.57 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $24.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.99, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $66.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.17 and a quick ratio of 0.17. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $59.41 and a 1 year high of $78.83.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.99. The company had revenue of $768.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.60 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 33.22% and a return on equity of 9.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th were paid a $0.6925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is currently 104.53%.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 51.6% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 461 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 27.6% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 740 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 4.4% during the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,858 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 1.6% during the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,733 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $768,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 2.9% during the first quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,283 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 177 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.