First Trust Advisors LP Grows Stock Holdings in Equity Residential $EQR

First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 7.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 867,742 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 57,465 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.23% of Equity Residential worth $51,327,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth $2,201,674,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,922,935 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,630,103,000 after purchasing an additional 688,854 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,258,275 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $644,412,000 after purchasing an additional 114,604 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,242,013 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $582,617,000 after purchasing an additional 44,127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 227.7% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 7,405,502 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $466,869,000 after purchasing an additional 5,145,442 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Equity Residential from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut Equity Residential from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $69.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $78.25 to $79.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Nordea Equity Research upgraded shares of Equity Residential to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $71.40.

Equity Residential Price Performance

NYSE:EQR opened at $67.87 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.51, a P/E/G ratio of 5.40 and a beta of 0.74. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $57.57 and a 52-week high of $71.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $67.31 and a 200 day moving average of $63.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a current ratio of 0.19.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $779.85 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $781.79 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 27.97%.Equity Residential's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. Equity Residential has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.020-4.140 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.980-1.020 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 4.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 29th were issued a dividend of $0.7025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 29th. This represents a $2.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Equity Residential's payout ratio is presently 122.17%.

Equity Residential Company Profile

Equity Residential NYSE: EQR is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates rental apartment properties. Headquartered in Chicago, the company focuses on delivering professionally managed, market-rate apartment homes and related services to renters. Its operations cover a range of property types, including high-rise and mid-rise assets, with amenities and on-site management designed to support resident retention and occupancy.

The company's core activities include property acquisitions, development and redevelopment, leasing, and day-to-day property management.

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