Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Sets New 52-Week High at $72.39

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $72.39 and last traded at $72.26, with a volume of 559963 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.98.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho raised their price target on Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Wedbush raised their price target on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Equity Residential from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.91.

Equity Residential Trading Up 1.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.21. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.40. The company has a market capitalization of $27.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.54, a P/E/G ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.87.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.96 by ($0.49). The business 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 quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 36.6% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 569,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,962,000 after buying an additional 152,736 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 146,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,965,000 after purchasing an additional 18,556 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 165,650 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,131,000 after purchasing an additional 20,010 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 551,960 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,482,000 after purchasing an additional 27,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 200.9% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 77,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,861,000 after purchasing an additional 51,423 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.