Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Releases Q2 Earnings Guidance

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) issued an update on its second quarter earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $0.92-0.96 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.96. Equity Residential also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 3.800-3.900 EPS.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Equity Residential stock traded up $0.81 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $65.69. 313,081 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,080,791. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.84. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $52.57 and a 12 month high of $69.45. The business’s 50-day moving average is $61.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.81.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 31.70% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The business had revenue of $730.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $728.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. Equity Residential’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a $0.675 dividend. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EQR. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a buy rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a neutral rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given 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 $66.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,384,252.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total transaction of $97,405.77. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,479.79. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at $1,384,252.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,280 shares of company stock valued at $192,335 over the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.