Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Rating Increased to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $74.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior target price of $72.00.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler set a $78.00 target price on Equity Residential in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Equity Residential from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.73.

Equity Residential Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of EQR stock opened at $59.50 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $61.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.31, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.75. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $57.57 and a fifty-two week high of $72.64.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $781.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $786.35 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.98% and a net margin of 36.20%.Equity Residential’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.00 EPS. Equity Residential has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.940-0.980 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 4.020-4.140 EPS. Research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 30th will be paid a $0.7025 dividend. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 30th. This represents a $2.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Robert Garechana sold 3,637 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.13, for a total transaction of $236,877.81. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 18,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,220,536.20. The trade was a 16.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 5,765 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.13, for a total value of $375,474.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 46,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,004,512.03. The trade was a 11.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,058 shares of company stock valued at $655,078. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,597,658 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,728,296,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281,354 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at $2,201,674,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,922,935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,630,103,000 after buying an additional 688,854 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,258,275 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $644,412,000 after acquiring an additional 114,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,242,013 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $582,617,000 after acquiring an additional 44,127 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Company Profile

Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates rental apartment properties. Headquartered in Chicago, the company focuses on delivering professionally managed, market-rate apartment homes and related services to renters. Its operations cover a range of property types, including high-rise and mid-rise assets, with amenities and on-site management designed to support resident retention and occupancy.

The company’s core activities include property acquisitions, development and redevelopment, leasing, and day-to-day property management.