Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Lowers Position in Equity Residential $EQR

Key Points

• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board reduced its stake in Equity Residential by 16.3%, selling 792,756 shares, and now owns approximately 1.07% of the company, valued at about $290.66 million.
• Equity Residential reported $0.99 earnings per share for the most recent quarter, in line with analysts' estimates, with revenue of $768.83 million, slightly below expectations.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.6925 per share, leading to an annualized yield of 4.2%, despite having a dividend payout ratio of 104.53%.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board cut its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 16.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,060,694 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 792,756 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 1.07% of Equity Residential worth $290,664,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EQR. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 51.6% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 27.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 4.4% during the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,858 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 1.6% during the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,733 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $768,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 2.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on EQR. Stifel Nicolaus set a $80.50 price target on shares of Equity Residential and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Mizuho lowered their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $77.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Equity Residential from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.16.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of EQR stock traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $64.31. The company had a trading volume of 383,746 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,933,329. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $59.41 and a 52-week high of $78.83. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $65.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.17 and a quick ratio of 0.17. The company has a market capitalization of $24.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.93.

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 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.99. Equity Residential had a net margin of 33.22% and a return on equity of 9.05%. The company had revenue of $768.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $770.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. Equity Residential's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equity Residential has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.970-4.030 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.990-1.030 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th were given a dividend of $0.6925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. Equity Residential's 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.