Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Upgraded at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

EQR has been the topic of several other research reports. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $78.50 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Equity Residential from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $63.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.70.

Equity Residential Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of EQR opened at $60.01 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $22.66 billion, a PE ratio of 20.48, a PEG ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.75. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $58.38 and a 1 year high of $72.64. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.44.

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

Insider Activity at Equity Residential

In related news, EVP Catherine Carraway sold 656 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.13, for a total transaction of $42,725.28. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 18,339 shares in the company, valued at $1,194,419.07. This represents a 3.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert Garechana sold 3,637 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.13, for a total transaction of $236,877.81. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 18,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,220,536.20. This represents a 16.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 10,058 shares of company stock valued at $655,078 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equity Residential

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,281,354 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equity Residential in the 4th quarter valued at $2,201,674,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 1.1% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position 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 worth $582,617,000 after acquiring an additional 44,127 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.