Advisors Preferred LLC Takes Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 26,276 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $1,873,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,493,426,000. APG Asset Management US Inc. lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,664,576 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $837,050,000 after purchasing an additional 57,660 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,519,627 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $681,594,000 after purchasing an additional 165,683 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,522,442 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $468,050,000 after purchasing an additional 696,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 53.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,476,004 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $464,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,246,555 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on EQR shares. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 13th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Equity Residential from $84.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI upgraded Equity Residential from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential presently has a consensus 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 trading on Friday, reaching $67.38. 1,476,237 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,866,307. The firm's 50 day moving average is $68.23 and its 200 day moving average is $69.22. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $59.41 and a twelve month high of $78.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $25.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.88.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $760.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.43 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 33.11%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th were issued a dividend of $0.6925 per share. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 24th. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio is currently 105.73%.

Equity Residential 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.