Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Acquires Shares of 60,866 Equity Residential $EQR

Key Points

• Fjarde AP Fonden opened a new position in Equity Residential, buying 60,866 shares valued at about $3.84 million in the fourth quarter.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other investors holding 92.68% of the stock. Several large firms, including Vanguard and Norges Bank, also added to or initiated positions.
• Equity Residential reported Q1 earnings of $0.24 per share, missing estimates, while revenue was roughly in line; the company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.7025 per share, implying a 4.2% yield.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 60,866 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $3,837,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 2.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,597,658 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,728,296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281,354 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,201,674,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 2.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,922,935 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,630,103,000 after purchasing an additional 688,854 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,258,275 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $644,412,000 after purchasing an additional 114,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 0.5% in the fourth 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. 92.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EQR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Equity Residential from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday. 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 research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Argus set a $70.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $70.35.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of EQR opened at $67.34 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $25.23 billion, a PE ratio of 26.93, a PEG ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.75. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $63.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a current ratio of 0.18. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $57.57 and a twelve month high of $70.21.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $781.79 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 30.63% and a return on equity of 8.57%. Equity Residential's revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. 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. As a group, research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 4.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 30th were given a dividend of $0.7025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 30th. This is a boost from Equity Residential's previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. Equity Residential's payout ratio is 112.40%.

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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