Equity Residential Keeps Dividend Steady

Apartment-building operator Equity Residentialannounced today its second-quarter dividend of $0.40 per share, the same rate it paid last quarter after raising the payout 18.5%, from $0.3375 per share, in the third quarter of 2012.

In the fourth quarter, the building operator paid a dividend of $0.7675 per share, which represents approximately 65% of the company's estimated normalized funds from operations for 2012.

The board of directors said the quarterly dividend is payable on July 12 to the holders of record at the close of business on June 24. The board also said it was paying a quarterly dividend on Equity's Series K preferred shares of $1.03625 per share. The preferred payout will be paid on July 1 to holders of record on June 21.

Equity Residential intends to make quarterly payouts of $0.40 per share for the first three quarters of 201 and, in the fourth quarter, will once again pay a dividend equal to approximately 65% of the company's estimated normalized funds from operations for the year.

The regular dividend payment equates to a $1.60-per-share annual dividend, yielding 2.9% based on the closing price of Equity Residential's stock on June 12.

EQR Dividend data by YCharts

The article Equity Residential Keeps Dividend Steady originally appeared on Fool.com.

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