Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Announces Earnings Results

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02, RTT News reports. The company had revenue of $730.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $728.09 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 31.70%. Equity Residential’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of EQR stock traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $65.37. The stock had a trading volume of 278,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,079,583. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.77 billion, a PE ratio of 26.93, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $61.89 and its 200 day moving average is $59.81. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $52.57 and a twelve month high of $69.45.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This is an increase from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.03%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,384,252.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $50,632.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,927.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $41,384.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,384,252.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,280 shares of company stock valued at $192,335 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on EQR. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Equity Residential from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Equity Residential from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.04.

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.