Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) – Research analysts at SunTrust Banks raised their FY2019 EPS estimates for shares of Equity Residential in a research report issued on Thursday, August 22nd, according to Zacks Investment Research. SunTrust Banks analyst M. Lewis now expects that the real estate investment trust will post earnings per share of $3.43 for the year, up from their prior forecast of $3.39. SunTrust Banks has a “Hold” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. SunTrust Banks also issued estimates for Equity Residential’s Q4 2019 earnings at $0.88 EPS, Q1 2020 earnings at $0.87 EPS, Q2 2020 earnings at $0.92 EPS, Q3 2020 earnings at $0.90 EPS, Q4 2020 earnings at $0.91 EPS, FY2020 earnings at $3.59 EPS, FY2021 earnings at $3.71 EPS, FY2022 earnings at $3.78 EPS and FY2023 earnings at $3.86 EPS.
Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.02). Equity Residential had a return on equity of 7.21% and a net margin of 28.27%. The company had revenue of $669.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $667.59 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis.
A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Equity Residential to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.97.
NYSE:EQR opened at $86.85 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $62.40 and a 12 month high of $87.09. The company has a market cap of $31.89 billion, a PE ratio of 25.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.36.
In related news, EVP Scott Fenster sold 2,477 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.36, for a total transaction of $196,574.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christa L. Sorenson sold 400 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.33, for a total transaction of $31,332.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 209,862 shares of company stock valued at $17,023,030. Insiders own 3.75% of the company’s stock.
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $517,229,000 after buying an additional 2,911,036 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $284,454,000 after buying an additional 2,406,121 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 15.8% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,042,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $756,387,000 after buying an additional 1,373,126 shares in the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 39.4% during the 1st quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 3,885,671 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $292,669,000 after buying an additional 1,097,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 42,189,362 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,177,704,000 after buying an additional 942,825 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% 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.