Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Rating Lowered to Neutral at Bank of America

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) was downgraded by research analysts at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $82.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior target price of $78.00. Bank of America‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 9.04% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.97.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of Equity Residential stock opened at $75.20 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21. Equity Residential has a one year low of $52.57 and a one year high of $78.83. The stock has a market cap of $28.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $73.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.87.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Residential

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Equity Residential in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $796,000. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 146,775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,177,000 after buying an additional 16,063 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 3.0% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 46,353 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,214,000 after acquiring an additional 1,344 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Equity Residential by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 12,768 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $885,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. Finally, Chase Investment Counsel Corp bought a new stake in Equity Residential in the second quarter valued at about $341,000. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.