Equity Residential to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.68 (NYSE:EQR)

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, September 13th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be given a dividend of 0.675 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, October 11th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 24th.

Equity Residential has increased its dividend by an average of 3.2% per year over the last three years. Equity Residential has a dividend payout ratio of 164.6% 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 analysts expect Equity Residential to earn $4.02 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 67.2%.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

EQR opened at $76.58 on Monday. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $52.57 and a twelve month high of $78.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.07 billion, a PE ratio of 31.78, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $72.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.69.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on EQR shares. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $62.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.62.

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.