Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Holdings Decreased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,709,291 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 188,572 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 2.03% of Equity Residential worth $551,831,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EQR. Keybank National Association OH grew its stake in Equity Residential by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 7,001 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $502,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,827 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Equity Residential by 38.8% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Equity Residential by 51.6% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 461 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in 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 valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EQR. Scotiabank decreased 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 note on Friday, June 13th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective 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 upped their target price 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, Truist Financial raised their price target on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.25.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of EQR stock opened at $66.66 on Thursday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $69.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $59.41 and a twelve month high of $78.84. The company has a market capitalization of $25.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44, a PEG ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 24th. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio is 105.73%.

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.

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