Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Makes New Investment in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Key Points

• Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC acquired 8,865 shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) for approximately $635,000, indicating growing institutional interest in the real estate investment trust.
• Equity Residential recently reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.95, surpassing analyst expectations and showing a 4.1% year-over-year revenue increase.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.6925, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 4.11% despite a payout ratio of 105.73%, reflecting a commitment to shareholder returns.

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 8,865 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $635,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 53.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,476,004 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $464,718,000 after acquiring an additional 2,246,555 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,522,442 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $468,050,000 after acquiring an additional 696,343 shares during the period. Adelante Capital Management LLC raised its position in Equity Residential by 172.1% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 79.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 512,723 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 7,177.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 506,930 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $36,286,000 after purchasing an additional 499,964 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Equity Residential from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $78.81.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.4%

EQR stock traded down $0.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $67.38. 1,507,273 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,727,810. The company has a market capitalization of $25.60 billion, a PE ratio of 25.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $59.41 and a twelve month high of $78.83. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.23.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $760.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.43 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 33.11%. The business's revenue for the quarter 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, research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th were given a dividend of $0.6925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.11%. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 105.73%.

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.