Magnetar Financial LLC Acquires Shares of 95,212 Equity Residential $EQR

Key Points

• Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Equity Residential (EQR) during the first quarter, purchasing 95,212 shares valued at approximately $6.81 million.
• Equity Residential recently reported an EPS of $0.99 for the last quarter, meeting analysts' expectations, and has set FY 2025 guidance for EPS between $3.970-$4.030.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.6925, resulting in an annualized payout of $2.77 and a dividend yield of 4.2%.

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 95,212 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $6,815,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. TCW Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 40.4% during the 1st quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 83,417 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $5,971,000 after acquiring an additional 23,997 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,246 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 39.1% during the 1st quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 86,203 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $6,170,000 after acquiring an additional 24,232 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 11.0% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 845,820 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $60,544,000 after acquiring an additional 83,788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 54,271 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,885,000 after acquiring an additional 4,499 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on EQR shares. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $77.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Equity Residential from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.16.

Equity Residential Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE EQR traded up $0.89 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $66.18. 1,412,925 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,138,358. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $59.41 and a 12-month high of $78.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a current ratio of 0.17. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $65.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.23. The firm has a market cap of $25.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.93.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.99. Equity Residential had a net margin of 33.22% and a return on equity of 9.05%. The company had revenue of $768.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $770.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. Equity Residential's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equity Residential has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.970-4.030 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.990-1.030 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 24th were given a dividend of $0.6925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Equity Residential's payout ratio is currently 104.53%.

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.