BNP Paribas Financial Markets Purchases 187,773 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 33.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 752,638 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 187,773 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 0.20% of Equity Residential worth $54,009,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EQR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,493,426,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 53.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,476,004 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $464,718,000 after buying an additional 2,246,555 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised 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 valued at $468,050,000 after buying an additional 696,343 shares in the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC raised its position in Equity Residential by 172.1% during the fourth quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,077,337 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $77,310,000 after purchasing an additional 681,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 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 purchasing an additional 591,866 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equity Residential Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of Equity Residential stock traded up $0.99 during trading on Monday, hitting $70.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 245,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,701,222. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $59.41 and a 52 week high of $78.84. The stock has a market cap of $26.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $69.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.95.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 34.76% and a return on equity of 9.27%. The company had revenue of $760.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $769.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. Equity Residential's revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.6925 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on EQR. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.12.

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.