Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Has $20.95 Million Stock Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Key Points

• Zurcher Kantonalbank cut its holdings in Equity Residential by 39.5% during the first quarter, now owning about 0.08% of the company valued at approximately $20.95 million.
• Equity Residential recently reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, surpassing expectations, and revealed a 4.1% increase in revenue compared to the same quarter last year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.6925, resulting in an annualized yield of 4.09%, but has a high dividend payout ratio of 105.73%.

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank trimmed its holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 39.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 292,707 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 191,046 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned 0.08% of Equity Residential worth $20,952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,246 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 39.1% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 24,232 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in Equity Residential by 11.9% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 49,921 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,573,000 after acquiring an additional 5,293 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Equity Residential by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,210,383 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $302,137,000 after acquiring an additional 136,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Starwood Capital Group Management L.L.C. increased its stake in Equity Residential by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Starwood Capital Group Management L.L.C. now owns 339,338 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $24,351,000 after purchasing an additional 70,500 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on EQR. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped 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. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $84.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $78.40.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

NYSE:EQR traded down $0.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $62.68. The stock had a trading volume of 1,930,344 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,903,402. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.16. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $59.41 and a 52 week high of $78.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $760.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $769.43 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 33.11% and a return on equity of 8.93%. Equity Residential's quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th were paid a $0.6925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Equity Residential's payout ratio is currently 105.73%.

About Equity Residential

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.