Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 40,178 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Equity Residential by 1.0%, acquiring an additional 40,178 shares for a total of 4,109,506 shares, valued at approximately $294 million.
• Equity Residential reported earnings of $0.99 per share for the last quarter, meeting analysts' expectations, with a revenue of $768.83 million, marking a 4.7% year-over-year increase.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.6925 per share, yielding around 4.4%, with a dividend payout ratio of 104.53%.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,109,506 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 40,178 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.08% of Equity Residential worth $294,158,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 51.6% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 461 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 27.6% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 740 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 4.4% in the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,858 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1.6% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,733 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $768,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 2.9% in the first quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,283 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $450,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $80.50 price objective on Equity Residential and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on 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 lifted their price objective 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, Morgan Stanley set a $75.00 price objective on Equity Residential and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $77.84.

Equity Residential Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of EQR traded up $0.60 on Wednesday, hitting $63.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 502,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,919,970. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $66.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.81. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $59.41 and a fifty-two week high of $78.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.92.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.99. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 33.22%. The business had revenue of $768.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. Equity Residential's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 24th were given a $0.6925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Equity Residential's payout ratio is currently 104.53%.

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.