Short sellers added positions in EQR ahead of Tuesday's print, pushing SI to 2.61% of float. Analysts show wide divergence — Morgan Stanley upgraded in March while BMO downgraded in January — with a mean target of $69.88 implying 12% upside.
Short interest hit 9.94 million shares as of April 23, representing 2.61% of the free float. Shorts added 3.1% over the past week and 0.65% in the latest session. Days to cover stands at 4.74. Cost to borrow remains benign at 0.44%, down 5.4% over the week. Utilisation ticked up to 2.04%, approaching the 52-week high of 2.56% set in late March.
The put/call ratio sits at 3.29, tracking above the 20-day mean of 3.13. The z-score of 1.04 suggests moderately elevated put buying relative to recent norms. PCR remains well within the 52-week range of 0.59 to 4.30, signaling no extreme positioning into the print.
Consensus data is unavailable, but the mean price target of $69.88 implies 12% upside from the current $62.26. Wells Fargo raised its target to $64 on April 23 while maintaining Equal-Weight. Morgan Stanley upgraded to Overweight with a $74 target on March 26. Evercore ISI lowered its Outperform target to $67 on April 6. BMO downgraded to Market Perform with a $68 target in January. Benzinga's bull case notes the revised 2025 FFO estimate of $4.04 per share and 2.6% same-store NOI growth guidance. The bear case highlights a 9% year-to-date pullback, urban market exposure risks in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and early demand softness with 3Q25 blended metrics at the low end of guidance.
The stock trades at 45.6x trailing earnings, up 3.6 turns over the past month. Price-to-book stands at 2.31, ticking up 0.16 points over 30 days. EV/EBITDA of 16.8 has risen 0.14 turns. EQR ranks in the 70th percentile on 30-day EPS momentum and the 90th percentile on earnings surprise, but just the 4th percentile on 12-month forward EPS growth. The analyst recommendation differential ranks in the 99th percentile, reflecting wide opinion dispersion.
Insiders sold $915,000 net over the past 90 days, with COO Michael Manelis and CIO Robert Garechana accounting for the bulk. Vanguard holds 15.4% and BlackRock 10.8%, both adding modestly in Q1. Cohen & Steers increased its stake by 5.1 million shares to 2.0% as of December 31.
The stock last reported on February 6, 2026. Prior prints occurred in early February. EQR has declined 0.62% over the past day and 0.67% over the week, but is up 6.1% over the month.
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