Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Lowered to “Underperform” at Raymond James

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Lowered to “Underperform” at Raymond James

Raymond James lowered shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) from a market perform rating to an underperform rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, BenzingaRatingsTable reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Equity Residential from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $89.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Friday, November 8th. They issued a sell rating and a $86.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reaffirmed a hold rating and issued a $87.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Sunday, October 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Equity Residential from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and upped their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $81.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $83.06.

Equity Residential stock traded up $0.85 on Tuesday, hitting $81.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,290,997 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,547,374. The firm has a market cap of $29.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $82.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.01. Equity Residential has a one year low of $66.96 and a one year high of $89.55.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $685.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $679.66 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 29.88% and a return on equity of 7.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.47 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a $0.567 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 69.85%.

In related news, EVP Christa L. Sorenson sold 2,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.60, for a total transaction of $208,312.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark S. Shapiro sold 3,294 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.05, for a total transaction of $266,978.70. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $556,408.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 118,024 shares of company stock worth $10,092,351. 3.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EQR. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its position in Equity Residential by 74.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 6,812,818 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $517,229,000 after buying an additional 2,911,036 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Equity Residential by 179.5% during the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 3,746,745 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $284,454,000 after buying an additional 2,406,121 shares in the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new position in Equity Residential during the 3rd quarter worth about $73,321,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in Equity Residential by 45.0% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,033,629 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $175,478,000 after buying an additional 631,243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Equity Residential by 21.1% during the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,900,970 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $220,242,000 after buying an additional 505,971 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.14% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Company Profile

Equity Residential is an S&P 500 company focused on the acquisition, development and management of rental apartment properties located in urban and high-density suburban markets where today’s renters want to live, work and play. Equity Residential owns or has investments in 307 properties consisting of 79,482 apartment units, primarily located in Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Seattle, San Francisco, Southern California and Denver.

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