Brokerages Set Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Target Price at $78.51

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $78.51.

EQR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.25 price target on Equity Residential in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $46,262.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,840,340.34. The trade was a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 9,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total transaction of $683,728.09. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 26,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,930,106.67. This represents a 26.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,763 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,217 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter worth $879,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 588,059 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,199,000 after purchasing an additional 46,671 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at about $8,593,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,584,000. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Equity Residential Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Equity Residential stock opened at $71.52 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $70.90 and its 200-day moving average is $72.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.16 billion, a PE ratio of 26.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.91. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $59.48 and a 12-month high of $78.84.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.6925 per share. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. This is an increase from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.84%.

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.