Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Announces $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 paid a dividend of 0.675 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, October 11th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 24th.

Equity Residential has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.2% per year over the last three years. Equity Residential has a dividend payout ratio of 164.6% indicating that 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 $4.02 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 Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of EQR opened at $76.58 on Friday. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $52.57 and a 1-year high of $78.83. The company has a market capitalization of $29.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.78, a P/E/G ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.21 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.65.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.96 by ($0.49). Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The company had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $735.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Equity Residential

In related news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EQR. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 price objective on the stock. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.