IFM Investors Pty Ltd Sells 11,357 Shares of Equity Residential $EQR

Key Points

• IFM Investors Pty Ltd sold 11,357 shares of Equity Residential, reducing its stake by 7.6% to a total of 137,409 shares, valued at approximately $9.84 million.
• Equity Residential received mixed ratings from analysts, with target prices ranging from $68.00 to $80.50, and a consensus rating of "Hold".
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.6925, resulting in an annualized dividend of $2.77 and a yield of 4.2%.

IFM Investors Pty Ltd reduced its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 7.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 137,409 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 11,357 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in Equity Residential were worth $9,836,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in EQR. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the 1st quarter valued at $165,442,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Equity Residential by 5.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,711,588 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,482,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101,027 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Equity Residential by 7,177.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 506,930 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $36,286,000 after acquiring an additional 499,964 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Equity Residential by 190.9% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 674,373 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $48,272,000 after acquiring an additional 442,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eventide Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Equity Residential in the first quarter worth $27,944,000. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on EQR shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $77.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $76.50 to $75.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $75.71.

Equity Residential Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:EQR traded down $0.48 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $64.80. 721,296 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,919,260. Equity Residential has a one year low of $59.41 and a one year high of $78.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.75 billion, a PE ratio of 24.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.93. The business's 50 day moving average is $65.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99. Equity Residential had a net margin of 33.22% and a return on equity of 9.05%. The company had revenue of $768.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. Equity Residential's revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equity Residential has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.970-4.030 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.990-1.030 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 25th will be given a dividend of $0.6925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 25th. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.53%.

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.