Equity Residential (EQR) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 31st

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.6925 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a 2.6% increase from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68.

Equity Residential has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.9% per year over the last three years. Equity Residential has a payout ratio of 191.5% meaning 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 $4.21 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 64.1%.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of EQR stock opened at $71.38 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $59.48 and a 12 month high of $78.84. The firm has a market cap of $27.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.24, a PEG ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $70.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.53.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.25 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Scott Fenster sold 5,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $384,800.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,558,634.42. This trade represents a 13.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert Garechana sold 4,294 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $309,425.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,016,622.48. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 19,763 shares of company stock worth $1,424,217. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.