Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Grows Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 701,418 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 4,878 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned 0.18% of Equity Residential worth $50,208,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the 4th quarter worth about $2,493,426,000. APG Asset Management US Inc. boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,664,576 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $837,050,000 after purchasing an additional 57,660 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 1.8% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 696,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted 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 buying an additional 2,246,555 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $79.25.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of EQR traded down $1.89 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $65.65. The company had a trading volume of 4,125,337 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,734,869. The company has a market capitalization of $24.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.06, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.90. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $59.41 and a 12-month high of $78.84. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.94. 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 (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $760.81 million for 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%. Equity Residential's revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.6925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.22%. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.