Equity Residential Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.68 (NYSE:EQR)

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, June 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.675 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, July 12th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%.

Equity Residential has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.2% per year over the last three years. Equity Residential has a payout ratio of 162.7% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Equity Residential to earn $4.00 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 67.5%.

Equity Residential Stock Up 0.0 %

NYSE:EQR opened at $67.85 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $65.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.15, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $52.57 and a 1-year high of $69.45.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its 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 company had revenue of $730.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $728.09 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 31.70%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Alexander Brackenridge sold 4,027 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total value of $261,795.27. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 69,901 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,544,264.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Alexander Brackenridge sold 4,027 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $261,795.27. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 69,901 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,544,264.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Kay Haben sold 3,241 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.48, for a total value of $212,220.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,720 shares in the company, valued at $636,465.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Equity Residential from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Equity Residential from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Equity Residential from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.09.

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.