Royal Bank of Canada Has Lowered Expectations for Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Stock Price

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price objective dropped by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada from $83.00 to $79.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target indicates a potential upside of 14.01% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on EQR. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.19.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of Equity Residential stock traded down $1.08 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $69.29. The stock had a trading volume of 865,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,857,515. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $74.78 and its 200 day moving average is $69.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.27 billion, a PE ratio of 28.38, a PEG ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 0.89. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $53.28 and a twelve month high of $78.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 31.57%. The company’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Residential

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQR. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the 1st quarter worth approximately $414,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 9,211 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,329 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 32.3% during the 1st quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 17,469 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,102,000 after buying an additional 4,269 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 105,753 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,272,000 after buying an additional 7,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 569,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,962,000 after buying an additional 152,736 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.