Crestline Management LP Purchases New Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Crestline Management LP purchased a new stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 50,367 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $3,614,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Equity Residential by 607.8% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 361 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Equity Residential during the third quarter worth $29,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 109.5% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 551 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 38.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 558 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust increased its stake in Equity Residential by 208.1% during the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 610 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equity Residential Stock Up 1.0%

Equity Residential stock traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $70.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 365,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,701,625. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $59.41 and a fifty-two week high of $78.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $26.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.95.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.27% and a net margin of 34.76%. The business 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 earned $0.93 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.6925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. This is a boost from Equity Residential's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Equity Residential's payout ratio is 105.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on EQR shares. StockNews.com raised Equity Residential from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Equity Residential from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays raised their price target on Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.12.

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.