Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Takes Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 86,882 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $6,235,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,493,426,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,522,442 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $468,050,000 after buying an additional 696,343 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Equity Residential by 8.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,745,615 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $576,737,000 after buying an additional 591,866 shares during the period. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 79.1% in the 4th quarter. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC now owns 1,161,137 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $83,323,000 after acquiring an additional 512,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter worth about $32,664,000. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Equity Residential

In other 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 9,487 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 26,781 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,930,106.67. This trade represents a 26.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,763 shares of company stock worth $1,424,217 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of EQR traded up $1.08 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $71.70. 2,103,171 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,701,824. The company has a market cap of $27.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company's 50-day moving average price is $69.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.19. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $59.41 and a 52-week high of $78.84.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $760.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.43 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 34.76% and a return on equity of 9.27%. Equity Residential's revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.6925 dividend. This is a positive change from Equity Residential's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. Equity Residential's payout ratio is presently 105.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Equity Residential from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $78.71.

Equity Residential 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.