Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Key Points

• Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Equity Residential (EQR) by 120.4%, now owning 14,582 shares valued at approximately $1,044,000.
• Equity Residential reported earnings of $0.95 per share for the most recent quarter, beating analyst estimates of $0.93, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.6925 per share.
• The stock has a current market capitalization of $24.00 billion, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11 and a consensus price target set at $78.40 by analysts.

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 120.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,582 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 7,967 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $1,044,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 51.6% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 461 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 27.6% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 740 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 38.8% during the fourth quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 765 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. Finally, Parvin Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EQR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $78.40.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of Equity Residential stock traded down $0.45 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $62.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,720,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,889,863. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $67.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.11. Equity Residential has a one year low of $59.41 and a one year high of $78.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $23.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.92.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 33.11% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The firm had revenue of $760.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th were paid a $0.6925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.