Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target Increased to $80.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its target price increased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $68.00 to $80.00 in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

EQR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. BNP Paribas began coverage on Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an outperform rating and a $83.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equity Residential from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $75.62.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

EQR stock opened at $77.06 on Monday. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $52.57 and a twelve month high of $78.83. The firm has a market cap of $29.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.98, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 41.9% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Mystic Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Equity Residential by 3.8% during the first quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 32.7% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 811 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in Equity Residential by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,826 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $127,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.