Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Short Interest Update

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,860,000 shares, a growth of 9.7% from the September 15th total of 5,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,780,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on EQR. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America lowered shares of Equity Residential from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.97.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Residential

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 9.6% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 4,239 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $316,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Aurora Investment Managers LLC. grew its position in shares of Equity Residential by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Aurora Investment Managers LLC. now owns 52,523 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,911,000 after acquiring an additional 3,569 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 106,281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,827 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,957 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,337,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 3.2% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 40,391 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,008,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equity Residential Stock Up 0.2 %

Equity Residential stock traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $74.87. 1,988,612 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,876,579. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $52.57 and a 52-week high of $78.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $74.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.89.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.49). The business 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%. Equity Residential’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 24th were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.03%.

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.