Focus Partners Wealth Has $680,000 Stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 227.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,480 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 6,585 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth's holdings in Equity Residential were worth $680,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 119.8% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 483,753 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $34,714,000 after buying an additional 263,622 shares during the last quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 150,245 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $10,782,000 after buying an additional 10,472 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP acquired a new position in Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth approximately $321,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,707 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 7,001 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $502,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. 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 report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank increased their price target on Equity Residential from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Barclays increased their price target on Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Equity Residential from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $79.69.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of EQR stock opened at $71.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $27.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89. Equity Residential has a one year low of $59.41 and a one year high of $78.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $68.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

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

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.6925 dividend. This is a boost from Equity Residential's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 105.73%.

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.

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