AQR Capital Management LLC Purchases 13,501 Shares of Equity Residential $EQR

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 9.5%, owning 155,111 shares valued at approximately $11.10 million as of the end of the last quarter.
• Analysts have recently downgraded their price targets for Equity Residential, with Barclays reducing it from $83.00 to $81.00 and Wells Fargo from $75.00 to $68.00, while maintaining an overall consensus rating of "Hold."
• Equity Residential has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.6925, representing an annualized payout of $2.77 with a yield of 4.2%, although its payout ratio is currently at 104.53%.

AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 9.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 155,111 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 13,501 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC's holdings in Equity Residential were worth $11,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of EQR. TCW Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 40.4% during the first quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 83,417 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $5,971,000 after purchasing an additional 23,997 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Equity Residential by 6.3% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,246 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $232,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in 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 period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in 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 period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 54,271 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,885,000 after acquiring an additional 4,499 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on EQR. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $77.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $75.71.

Equity Residential Price Performance

EQR traded down $0.57 on Tuesday, reaching $64.71. The stock had a trading volume of 2,576,886 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,698,210. The company has a current ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The company has a market capitalization of $24.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.93. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $59.41 and a fifty-two week high of $78.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $65.38 and a 200-day moving average of $67.73.

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 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99. The firm had revenue of $768.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.60 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 33.22%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 25th will be given a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 25th. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio is 104.53%.

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.