Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target Raised to $76.00 at Evercore ISI

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price objective increased by Evercore ISI from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

EQR has been the topic of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.36.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Equity Residential stock opened at $70.90 on Monday. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $57.33 and a 12-month high of $78.83. The company has a market capitalization of $26.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $70.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.73.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.26%.

Insider Activity at Equity Residential

In other news, EVP Scott Fenster sold 5,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $384,800.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 35,507 shares in the company, valued at $2,558,634.42. The trade was a 13.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $46,262.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,539 shares in the company, valued at $1,840,340.34. This represents a 2.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,763 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,217 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Residential

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,922,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,796,976,000 after acquiring an additional 321,002 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,353,944 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $694,441,000 after buying an additional 132,638 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Equity Residential by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,897,863 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $566,749,000 after buying an additional 152,248 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,746,494 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $576,804,000 after buying an additional 1,741,840 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 806.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,259,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $317,136,000 after buying an additional 3,789,234 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.