American Century Companies Inc. Raises Stock Position in Equity Residential $EQR

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Equity Residential by 8.4%, acquiring an additional 201,647 shares, bringing their total to 2,592,372 shares worth $185,562,000.
• Equity Residential's recent earnings report showed an EPS of $0.99, matching analysts' expectations, with revenue increased by 4.7% year over year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.6925, which equates to an annualized dividend yield of 4.3%, despite having a payout ratio of 104.53%.

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 8.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,592,372 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 201,647 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.68% of Equity Residential worth $185,562,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TCW Group Inc. raised its position in Equity Residential by 40.4% in the first quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 83,417 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $5,971,000 after acquiring an additional 23,997 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Equity Residential by 6.3% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,246 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Equity Residential by 39.1% in the first quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 86,203 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $6,170,000 after acquiring an additional 24,232 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Equity Residential by 11.0% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 845,820 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $60,544,000 after acquiring an additional 83,788 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Equity Residential by 9.0% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 54,271 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,885,000 after acquiring an additional 4,499 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQR has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $84.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $80.50 price target on shares of Equity Residential and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $76.50 to $75.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.78.

Equity Residential Price Performance

EQR traded up $0.1360 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $64.5760. 1,069,783 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,936,958. The company has a market cap of $24.66 billion, a PE ratio of 24.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $66.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.60. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $59.41 and a 1 year high of $78.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.99. The company had revenue of $768.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $770.60 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 33.22% and a return on equity of 9.05%. Equity Residential's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. Equity Residential has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.970-4.030 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.990-1.030 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th were paid a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 24th. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.