Handelsbanken Fonder AB Cuts Position in Equity Residential $EQR

Key Points

• Handelsbanken Fonder AB reduced its Equity Residential stake by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, selling 19,529 shares and leaving it with 196,806 shares worth about $12.4 million.
• Equity Residential reported Q1 earnings of $0.24 per share, missing analyst expectations of $0.33, while revenue came in slightly below estimates at $779.85 million.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.7025 per share, and analysts currently have a consensus Hold rating with an average price target of $70.11.

Handelsbanken Fonder AB cut its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 196,806 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 19,529 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned about 0.05% of Equity Residential worth $12,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,597,658 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,728,296,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281,354 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 2.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 688,854 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,242,013 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $582,617,000 after acquiring an additional 44,127 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,231,961 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $403,395,000 after acquiring an additional 34,625 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Equity Residential by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,199,635 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $336,564,000 after buying an additional 173,002 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.7%

Equity Residential stock opened at $65.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a current ratio of 0.18. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $62.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.87. The company has a market cap of $24.65 billion, a PE ratio of 26.32, a PEG ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 0.76. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $57.57 and a fifty-two week high of $70.31.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $779.85 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $781.79 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 30.63% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 4.09 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 30th were paid a dividend of $0.7025 per share. This represents a $2.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 30th. This is a boost from Equity Residential's previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Piper Sandler set a $78.00 target price on Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Evercore boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $70.11.

Equity Residential 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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