Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 9,272 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 624,415 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 9,272 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned approximately 0.16% of Equity Residential worth $44,808,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of EQR. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Equity Residential by 607.8% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 361 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 109.5% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 551 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 38.8% during the fourth quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 765 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

NYSE:EQR traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $69.46. 433,240 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,728,836. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $59.41 and a 12 month high of $78.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $68.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.72.

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, 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.6925 per share. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Equity Residential's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio is 105.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on EQR shares. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Equity Residential from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Mizuho cut their price target on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.50.

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.