Barclays Cuts Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target to $75.00

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price objective decreased by Barclays from $78.00 to $75.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Equity Residential from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $63.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Equity Residential from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $70.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $73.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Evercore boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.63.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:EQR opened at $62.78 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $23.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.43, a P/E/G ratio of 4.72 and a beta of 0.75. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $58.38 and a 52-week high of $73.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.54.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.01). Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.98% and a net margin of 36.20%.The firm had revenue of $781.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $786.35 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. Equity Residential’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. 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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 16th. Investors of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a $0.6925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 94.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Catherine Carraway sold 656 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.13, for a total value of $42,725.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 18,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,194,419.07. The trade was a 3.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert Garechana sold 3,637 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.13, for a total value of $236,877.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 18,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,220,536.20. This trade represents a 16.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 10,058 shares of company stock worth $655,078 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Residential

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 valued at $3,728,296,000 after buying an additional 1,281,354 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,201,674,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Equity Residential by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,922,935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,630,103,000 after buying an additional 688,854 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,258,275 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $644,412,000 after buying an additional 114,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 0.5% during the fourth 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.

About Equity Residential

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.