California State Teachers Retirement System Grows Stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 588,059 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 46,671 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.15% of Equity Residential worth $42,199,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,749 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter worth $8,593,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter worth $27,584,000. Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 258,020 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $18,516,000 after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares during the period. Finally, Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 33,994 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,439,000 after purchasing an additional 1,461 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Equity Residential Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:EQR traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $69.89. 1,818,919 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,728,308. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $68.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.70. The company has a market cap of $26.55 billion, a PE ratio of 25.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $59.41 and a 12 month high of $78.84.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $760.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.43 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 34.76% and a return on equity of 9.27%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. This is an increase from Equity Residential's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio is presently 105.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $79.50.

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.