Mizuho Securities USA LLC Has $1.96 Million Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Key Points

• Mizuho Securities USA LLC has reduced its stake in Equity Residential by 15.4%, now holding 27,363 shares valued at approximately $1.96 million.
• Despite Mizuho's reduction, other investors like Versant Capital Management Inc have increased their holdings in the company significantly, indicating mixed institutional investor sentiment.
• Equity Residential shares currently have an average rating of "Hold" with target prices ranging from $75.00 to $83.00 from various analysts, reflecting differing views on the stock's outlook.

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lowered its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 15.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,363 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 4,996 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings in Equity Residential were worth $1,959,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,000,934 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,008,547,000 after buying an additional 199,943 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 53.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,476,004 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $464,718,000 after buying an additional 2,246,555 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,224,576 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $374,911,000 after buying an additional 60,099 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 8.3% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,560,478 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $326,439,000 after buying an additional 350,095 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,497,831 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $322,764,000 after buying an additional 238,686 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 brokerages have weighed in on EQR. UBS Group reduced their price target on Equity Residential from $84.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Scotiabank reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $77.00 price objective (down from $78.00) on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $80.50 price objective on Equity Residential and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $77.78.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

EQR traded up $0.60 on Friday, hitting $64.11. 3,890,265 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,275,611. The company has a current ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $66.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.48 billion, a PE ratio of 24.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.92. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $59.41 and a 52 week high of $78.83.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99. The company had revenue of $768.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.60 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 33.22%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th were issued a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 24th. Equity Residential's payout ratio is presently 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.