Bank of New York Mellon Corp Reduces Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,267,761 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 72,477 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.60% of Equity Residential worth $162,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 51.6% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 461 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 109.5% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 551 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 38.8% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 558 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 27.6% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 740 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on EQR shares. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. 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. Mizuho decreased 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. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Equity Residential from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $79.19.

Equity Residential Price Performance

NYSE:EQR traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $66.51. 115,866 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,758,746. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $68.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.55. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $59.41 and a 1 year high of $78.84. The company has a market cap of $25.27 billion, a PE ratio of 25.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be given a dividend of $0.6925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.16%. 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.