Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.69

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.6925 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a 2.6% increase from Equity Residential's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68.

Equity Residential has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.9% annually over the last three years. Equity Residential has a payout ratio of 191.5% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Equity Residential to earn $4.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.1%.

Equity Residential Stock Up 2.3 %

NYSE:EQR traded up $1.59 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $71.40. 1,205,321 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,581,887. The company has a fifty day moving average of $70.79 and a 200 day moving average of $72.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $59.48 and a twelve month high of $78.84. The company has a market capitalization of $27.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.91.

Remove Ads

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In related news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 4,294 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $309,425.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,016,622.48. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $46,262.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,539 shares in the company, valued at $1,840,340.34. The trade was a 2.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 19,763 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,217. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on EQR. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.25 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays reduced their target price on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $78.51.

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.