UPDATE: Jefferies Upgrades Equity Residential to Buy on Transformative Momentum

Jefferies upgraded Equity Residential

from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $59.00 to $64.00. Jefferies commented, "We believe EQR's acquistion of ~60% of Archstone greatly accelerates EQR's transformational story to a REIT focused on owning very high quality assets in better markets. As such, we believe the stock should command a higher multiple to better reflect the repositioned portfolio." Equity Residential closed at $57.66 on Monday.