Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 14.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 277,001 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 45,752 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC owned 0.07% of Equity Residential worth $19,878,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 607.8% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 361 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 38.8% during the 4th 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. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 109.5% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 551 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 208.1% during the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 610 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in Equity Residential in the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $79.50.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

EQR traded down $0.68 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $67.62. The stock had a trading volume of 1,354,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,730,038. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $68.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.80. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $59.41 and a 1 year high of $78.84. The stock has a market cap of $25.69 billion, a PE ratio of 24.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $760.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.43 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 34.76% and a return on equity of 9.27%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.6925 per share. This is a boost from Equity Residential's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.10%. Equity Residential's payout ratio is presently 105.73%.

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.