Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Short Interest Up 9.7% in September

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,860,000 shares, an increase of 9.7% from the September 15th total of 5,340,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,780,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Residential

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 36.6% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 569,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,962,000 after acquiring an additional 152,736 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 200.9% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 77,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,861,000 after purchasing an additional 51,423 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,267,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,279,095,000 after buying an additional 381,236 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Equity Residential in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,893,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Equity Residential in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,672,000. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Equity Residential Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of EQR stock traded up $0.18 on Thursday, hitting $74.87. 1,988,612 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,876,579. The business has a 50-day moving average of $74.12 and a 200 day moving average of $69.08. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $78.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.49). Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 32.83%. The firm had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $735.26 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 24th were given a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.97.

Equity Residential Company Profile

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.