Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Has $14.09 Million Stock Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 194.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 196,274 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 129,598 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned about 0.05% of Equity Residential worth $14,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 worth $576,737,000 after acquiring an additional 591,866 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Equity Residential during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 104.6% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 17,195 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,280,000 after acquiring an additional 8,789 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 182,397 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $13,430,000 after purchasing an additional 8,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,966 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $500,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

EQR traded down $0.91 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $69.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,324,825 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,841,290. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company's 50-day moving average is $69.19 and its 200-day moving average is $71.08. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $59.41 and a 52 week high of $78.83. The firm has a market cap of $26.46 billion, a PE ratio of 25.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.02. The business 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.6925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Equity Residential's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. Equity Residential's payout ratio is 105.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $78.71.

About Equity Residential

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.