Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 60.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,597 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 14,915 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $2,834,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in Equity Residential by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 4,426 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $318,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,340,238 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $167,936,000 after acquiring an additional 32,651 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,778,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 55.2% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 171,366 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $12,297,000 after purchasing an additional 60,942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 31,433 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,256,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on EQR shares. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $79.25.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

NYSE EQR traded up $0.13 during trading on Monday, hitting $67.48. 2,407,850 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,743,230. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.76, a PEG ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.90. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $59.41 and a 12-month high of $78.84. The business has a 50 day moving average of $69.30 and a 200-day moving average of $69.74.

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

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be given a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 24th. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.73%.

Equity Residential Company 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.