Scotiabank Increases Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Price Target to $79.00

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) had its price objective hoisted by Scotiabank from $78.00 to $79.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “sector perform” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target suggests a potential upside of 10.90% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also commented on EQR. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $77.75 to $81.50 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.42.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Equity Residential stock opened at $71.23 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $70.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.03 billion, a PE ratio of 26.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.36. Equity Residential has a one year low of $58.81 and a one year high of $78.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of the company’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 $46,262.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,539 shares in the company, valued at $1,840,340.34. This represents a 2.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 9,487 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total value of $683,728.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 26,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,930,106.67. The trade was a 26.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,763 shares of company stock worth $1,424,217 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth $2,493,426,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,922,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,796,976,000 after buying an additional 321,002 shares during the period. APG Asset Management US Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,664,576 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $837,050,000 after buying an additional 57,660 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,519,627 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $681,594,000 after buying an additional 165,683 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,897,863 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $566,749,000 after buying an additional 152,248 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

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.