Citigroup Inc. Has $27.19 Million Stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 66.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 379,790 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 152,302 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.10% of Equity Residential worth $27,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EQR. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 203,612 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $14,611,000 after acquiring an additional 33,057 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter worth $13,921,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 55.4% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 22,389 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,607,000 after buying an additional 7,986 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 4,971 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the period. Finally, Mariner LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 25,231 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,811,000 after buying an additional 1,367 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. 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. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target 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. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $84.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Equity Residential from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $77.78.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of EQR traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $64.11. 3,890,265 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,275,611. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $59.41 and a 52 week high of $78.83. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $66.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.69. The firm has a market cap of $24.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

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

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th were issued a dividend of $0.6925 per share. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 24th. Equity Residential's payout ratio is 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.